The Special Importance of Ethics and Morality in Human Life - Essay Example

Essays In my opinion, the main value of the first and second books of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethicsis that they examine the notion of happiness and virtue. Happiness, according to Aristotle, can be comprehended as follows: 1) If to treat happiness as a ceaseless pursuit of pleasure, then life can be likened to the life of an animal. 2) The understanding of happiness as gaining honors or success is also not sufficient since success is something external, dependent of mans environment, from those who recognize or not recognize it. 3) If happiness is reduced to the accumulation of wealth, it suggests a life against nature: wealth, according to Aristotle, is only a means to something else; it has no meaning as a self-sufficient goal. Man finds happiness in the performance of his/her human craft. Happiness is the energy, movement, action, and force of the activity of the soul in the implementation of a virtue, performed in one’s life until the end, and in accordance with reason (logos). Perfection, according to Aristotle, is a practical implementation of one’s purpose in life, providing people with both successes and failures. It is a way of self-affirmation in the face of external circumstances. In the second book, Aristotle gives the definition of virtue. Aristotle considers virtue as an inner moral perfection, which became part of the habit. Its culmination is manifested in the activities of the upper part of the irrational soul, full of desires, but restrained by reason. It is a perfection of a reasonable desire, i.e. virtue manifests itself in human ability to adapt to different situations. 2. Certainly, ethics has a special meaning for me, because I am convinced that it is necessary for each person for his/her harmonious coexistence with other people. Lack of ethics can lead to the collapse of social equilibrium, because ethics defines a respectful, honest and fair cooperation between people. The main importance belongs to applied ethics, which can be defined as an ethics that “draws upon ethical theory in order to ask what a person is obligated to do in some very specific situation, or within some particular domain of action (such as business)” (“Ethics”). Ethics, including applied ethics, have several sources. In particular, parents can be seen as one of the first sources of ethical education. Parents give the basics of ethical conduct, which is guided by the knowledge of the differences between good and bad deeds. However, parents are not the only source of ethical education. School ethics plays an equally important role in the way of moral improvement of children because it provides ethical guidelines and recommendations that relate directly to the educational process. In particular, for this reason, I appreciate the school ethics based on the understanding that the call to “not plagiarize” suggests a demand of not cheating during the exam. Indeed, in the exam, each student must demonstrate his/her personal knowledge and prove that he/she has learned the training material, which will bring him/her good in his/her later life. However, I am inclined to a negative attitude to the rule of the school ethics that in case of students illness requires him/her to provide a medical note. The fact is that a student cannot always bring this note, because sometimes he/she simply cannot walk because of the disease. I believe that the demand to bring a medical note every time student get sick is unethical. 3. In the fourth book of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle examines concepts of generosity, possessions, greed, extravagance, a noble man, a petty man, as well as mental warehouses associated with anger. The main point of this book is consistent with Aristotles ideas of the essence of virtues. Despite their diversity, Aristotle points to the feature that unites them all: namely, they all occupy a middle ground between the extreme positions. In particular, generosity is the midpoint between stinginess and extravagance (wastefulness). Aristotle notes that extravagance is connected with generosity. Actions guided by virtues are committed in the name of beauty. A generous man is the one who is able to be generous towards all people. It also gives him/her pleasure. A dignified man is the one who considers him/herself being worthy of a great life. Stateliness is also a kind of decoration for virtues, because it gives them the greatness and does not exist without them. The sign of stateliness is in not asking anybody for anything, but willing to provide services to other people. I believe that these ideas of Aristotle are fair, because in my life I also try to occupy the middle ground between the extremes such as greed and extravagance. Greed as well as extravagance has a very negative value for human life because it make people uncomfortable for communicating with other people. My personal experience shows that kindness and generosity attract people and make contact with them the most enjoyable and rewarding. 4. The movie of the famous director Alfred Hitchcock tells about the difficult situation in which the main character Guy Haines got when did not take the words of his fellow-traveler of the murder of his wife seriously. As a result, Bruno Anthony kills his wife and in response demands that he killed his father, whom he hates with all his soul. At first glance, it might seem that the movie is a classic detective story, in which each person tries to evade responsibility by means of deceit and lies. However, the moral aspect of the movie is much deeper than it may seem at first glance. In addition, it has something in common with some of Aristotle’s ethical ideas expressed in Nicomachean Ethics. Guy Haines is seeking a divorce from his wife in order to create a family with his new lover. However, his wife, who is a classic example of meanness, treachery and deceit, does not want to give him a divorce. Given that Guy makes professional success in tennis and every day he becomes more and more popular, his wife is trying to force him to continue their relationship and recognize her unborn child his own child, while Guy is not his father. This complex situation makes Guy hate his wife. In a fit of rage, he admits his new lover that he is ready to strangle her with his own hands. A chance meeting with Bruno allows Guy to get rid of the problem. However, here the viewer has a possibility to ponder the question of whether we can justify the murder of Guys wife. Despite the fact that she is a vile woman, does anyone have the right to deprive her life. In other words, "can we give Bruno ... a reason to be moral ...?" (Baggett and Drumin, n.p.). Guy’s joke about the murder of his wife has become a reality, leading to a variety of difficulties and problems. His desire to get rid of his wife as soon as possible acquired immoral assistant in the face of Bruno, who commits the sin of murder. However, killing Guys wife not only leads to problems with the police. It leads to the need to commit a similar offense in relation to Brunos father. Guy faces with an ethical dilemma. He must kill Brunos father, otherwise Bruno will present a different evidence that will be used as proof of his guilt. On the other hand, he cannot kill a man and break the law, because for him the law is particularly important value as shown in the film. In general, the movie points to the special importance of ethics and morality in human life. Every person should treate not only himself but also others with great responsibility, which also marked by Aristotle. Ethics of Aristotle assumes honest mans life in a harmonious coexistence with other people, where every word and action should be chosen with great responsibility and seriousness. Work Cited “Ethics.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2014. Read More