University of North Carolina Aristotle Golden Mean & Confucius Self Cultivation Essay

Post ID: 2487217

Overview

Aristotle- “golden mean”
called virtue ethics
He believed happiness was the ultimate human good
To behave ethically, one must know through reasoning what they are doing, select the act for its own sake in order to flourish and know that the act itself springs forms a firm and I change characters
According to him, virtue lies at the mean between 2 extremes (excess and deficiency) the center is virtue
He believed that virtue ethics are agent-oriented -> “ethical actions are the result of an agent (person) seeking virtue and accomplishing it” (not true for everyone
Believed virtues came externally (incentives, for other people)
Confucius- self cultivation
he also focused on virtues (self-cultivation of virtue) we they key to moral excellence
He says that motivation for cultivating virtue is internal(wanting it for yourself) as in individuals develops moral character by harnessing the ability to find pleasure in virtue and pain in vices
To do self-cultivation, you had to understand the self. Reflections, meditations, who you are and how you relate to other people.