Impactual Ethics

The first time I read the Nicomachean Ethics—fall semester of my sophomore year—it changed my life. I had never really found a compelling set of ethical doctrines outside of my Christian upbringing. This is not to say that Christian ethics are incomplete, rather Aristotle provides a rational depth to my goal of living for Christ. In some ways, I am sympathetic toward Thomist viewpoints on ethics. Among the beginning of the Ethics most impactful points are Aristotle’s suggestions on how to find the mean and his function argument. Once Aristotle has established the principle of the golden mean, he suggests that one should err toward deficiency or excess based on one’s own tendencies. If I am prone to vanity, then I should err on the side of being small-souled in my search for becoming magnanimous. I find this articulation helpful in my own life (the previous example being accurate to my own tendencies.) Another example is that I work very proactively to give away as much money as I can because I fear that I may become greedy or money loving someday. I have come to gain pleasure from generosity more-and-more over time as giving has become habituated. Aristotle also very clearly states his function argument in the first couple books of the Ethics. I like to take mankind’s function a step further by saying that man’s primary, and unique, function is its ability to honor God. Thus, honoring God becomes man’s primary function and the ultimate objective in life.