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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>proportionable to their work, rather fit for use than hugeand goodly to please the eye. Seeing then the actions <strong>of</strong> aservant do not need that which may be necessary for men <strong>of</strong>calling and place in the world, neither men <strong>of</strong> inferior conditionmany things which greater personages can hardly want;surely they are blessed in worldly respects who have wherewithto perform what their station and place asketh, thoughthey have no more.”P. 20, l. 18. Always bearing in mind that man “nevercontinueth in one stay.”P. 20, l. 11. <strong>The</strong> meaning is this: personal fortunes, wehave said, must be in certain weight and number to affectour own happiness, this will be true, <strong>of</strong> course, <strong>of</strong> those whichare reflected on us from our friends: and these are the onlyones to which the dead are supposed to be liable? add thenthe difference <strong>of</strong> sensibility which it is fair to presume, andthere is a very small residuum <strong>of</strong> joy or sorrow.P. 21, l. 18. This is meant for an exhaustive division <strong>of</strong>goods, which are either so in esse or in posse.If in esse, they are either above praise, or subjects <strong>of</strong> praise.Those in posse, here called faculties, are good only whenrightly used. Thus Rhetoric is a faculty which may be usedto promote justice or abused to support villainy. Money inlike way.P. 22, l. 4. Eudoxus, a philosopher holding the doctrineafterwards adopted by Epicurus respecting pleasure, but (as<strong>Aristotle</strong> testifies in the Tenth Book) <strong>of</strong> irreproachable character.P. 22, l. 13. See the Rhetoric, Book I. chap ix.P. 24, l. 23. <strong>The</strong> unseen is at least as real as the seen.P. 24, l. 29. <strong>The</strong> terms are borrowed from the Seventh Bookand are here used in their strict philosophical meaning. <strong>The</strong>[Greek: enkrates] is he who has bad or unruly appetites, butwhose reason is strong enough to keep them under. <strong>The</strong>[Greek: akrates] is he whose appetites constantly prevail overhis reason and previous good resolutions.By the law <strong>of</strong> habits the former is constantly approximatingto a state in which the appetites are wholly quelled. Thisstate is called [Greek: sophrosyne], and the man in it [Greek:sophron]. By the same law the remonstrances <strong>of</strong> reason inthe latter grow fainter and fainter till they are silenced forever. This state is called [Greek: akolasia], and the man in it250

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