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The Ethics of Aristotle - Penn State Hazleton

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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Ethics</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Aristotle</strong>the greater part that by which it exceeds the half, and addsthis on to the less. And when the whole is divided into twoexactly equal portions then men say they have their own,when they have gotten the equal; and the equal is a meanbetween the greater and the less according to arithmeticalequality.This, by the way, accounts for the etymology <strong>of</strong> the termby which we in Greek express the ideas <strong>of</strong> Just and Judge;([Greek: dikaion] quasi [Greek: dichaion], that is in two parts,and [Greek: dikastaes] quasi [Greek: dichastaes], he who dividesinto two parts). For when from one <strong>of</strong> two equal magnitudessomewhat has been taken and added to the other,this latter exceeds the former by twice that portion: if it hadbeen merely taken from the former and not added to thelatter, then the latter would [Sidenote:1132b] have exceededthe former only by that one portion; but in the other case,the greater exceeds the mean by one, and the mean exceedsalso by one that magnitude from which the portion was taken.By this illustration, then, we obtain a rule to determine whatone ought to take from him who has the greater, and what toadd to him who has the less. <strong>The</strong> excess <strong>of</strong> the mean over theless must be added to the less, and the excess <strong>of</strong> the greaterover the mean be taken from the greater.Thus let there be three straight lines equal to one another.From one <strong>of</strong> them cut <strong>of</strong>f a portion, and add as much toanother <strong>of</strong> them. <strong>The</strong> whole line thus made will exceed theremainder <strong>of</strong> the first-named line, by twice the portion added,and will exceed the untouched line by that portion. Andthese terms loss and gain are derived from voluntary exchange:that is to say, the having more than what was one’s own iscalled gaining, and the having less than one’s original stockis called losing; for instance, in buying or selling, or any othertransactions which are guaranteed by law: but when the resultis neither more nor less, but exactly the same as therewas originally, people say they have their own, and neitherlose nor gain.So then the Just we have been speaking <strong>of</strong> is a mean betweenloss and gain arising in involuntary transactions; thatis, it is the having the same after the transaction as one hadbefore it took place.[Sidenote: V] <strong>The</strong>re are people who have a notion thatReciprocation is simply just, as the Pythagoreans said: for114

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