This book discusses the views of Plato and Aristotle in four related areas: eudaimonia, or living and acting well, as the ultimate end of action; virtues of character in relation to the emotions, and to one another; practical reasoning, especially from an end to ways or means; acrasia, or action that is contrary to the agent’s own judgement of what is best. The focal concept is that of eudaimonia, which both Plato and Aristotle view as an abstract goal that is valuable enough to motivate action. Virtue has a double role to play in making its achievement possible, both in proposing subordinate ... More

This book discusses the views of Plato and Aristotle in four related areas: eudaimonia, or living and acting well, as the ultimate end of action; virtues of character in relation to the emotions, and to one another; practical reasoning, especially from an end to ways or means; acrasia, or action that is contrary to the agent’s own judgement of what is best. The focal concept is that of eudaimonia, which both Plato and Aristotle view as an abstract goal that is valuable enough to motivate action. Virtue has a double role to play in making its achievement possible, both in proposing subordinate ends apt to the context, and in protecting the agent against temptations to discard these too easily. For both purposes, virtues need to form a unity – but one that can be conceived in various ways. Among the tasks of deliberation is to work out how, and whether, to pursue some putative end in context. Aristotle returns to early Plato in finding it problematic that one shosuld consciously sacrifice acting well to some incidental attraction; Plato later finsds this possible by postulating schism within the soul. Their emphasis upon the centrality of action within human life makes their reflections perennially relevant.