Homework 02/22/10-02/26/10
February 22, 2010 | Print This Homework Post
Monday:
Work on presentations
Tuesday:
Work on presentations – Print out quizzes
Wednesday:
Book 7 Presentation
Work on presentations
Thursday:
Book 10 Presentation
Study for voc. test tomorrow
Friday:
Voc. test today
Finish reading Aristotle’s Ethics, Book 8
Vocabulary List 17
- Akrasia - Usually translated as “incontinence,” this term connotes a lack of self-control. A person exhibiting akrasia knows what good behavior consists of but lacks the self-control not to give in to physical pleasures.
- Arete - Usually translated as “virtue,” this important term means something more akin to “excellence.” For the Greeks, arete can be used to refer not only to a person’s moral or intellectual virtues, but to any other kind of excellence, be it the fitness of an athlete or even the sharpness of a knife.
- Ethos - We can see that this term is the root of our word ethics. However, it is more accurately translated as “character,” which gives us an important insight to understanding the Ethics. Aristotle is not so much concerned with moralizing as he is with determining what constitutes an admirable character.
- Eudaimonia - Normally translated as “happiness,” eudaimonia also carries connotations of success and fulfillment. For the Greeks, happiness is not an inner, emotional state, but the activity, or energeia, of a successful person. The Greeks did not share our sharp distinction between the public and the private, so for them, happiness is a public matter that can be evaluated just as accurately by an observer as by the person being observed.
- Hexis - Translated as “disposition,” hexis is the term Aristotle uses to qualify the virtues. According to Aristotle, virtue is not something one actively does. Rather, virtue is a disposition to behave in the right way.
- Phronesis - Often translated as “prudence,” this term is perhaps better, but more cumbersomely, translated as “practical wisdom.” Phronesis is an important intellectual virtue that allows us to reason properly about practical matters. Phronesis consists in no small part of an appropriate application of the practical syllogism.
- Psuche - The root of our word psychology, psuche is generally translated as “soul,” though it carries none of the spiritual connotations of the Christian use of that word. Psuche is that unobservable property that distinguishes living things from nonliving things. The human psuche consists of three major parts: the nutritive part, which it shares with both plants and animals; the appetitive part, which it shares with only animals; and the rational part, which is distinctively human.
- Telos - This important term can be translated variously as “end,” “goal,” or “purpose.” According to Aristotle, we have a telos as humans, which it is our goal to fulfill. This telos is based on our uniquely human capacity for rational thought. Aristotle’s view of humans having a telos based in our rationality leads directly to his conclusion in Book X that contemplation is the highest human good.
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