Honor versus Magnanimity in “Nicomachean Ethics”

All actions occur with the means of reaching an end. One may complete an action to receive a reward, or the action may be valuable in itself. In the latter case, the action is done purely for the sake of the action. An example of this type of action is singing. One may sing as a career to receive money and fame, but also simply because he/she enjoys singing. Whether the action is done for extrinsic or intrinsic value, the action seeks some good. This end product, the good end, is better than the actions that have taken place in order to receive the end. This is a perplexing concept, because there are many different actions that lead to many ends, all of which are good. As a result, there must be some good and end that is better than all the others. Aristotle determines this end to be none other than happiness.

The cultured and elite live the life of political activity. They believe that good is honor, as honor is usually pursued in the political life. However, like the life of gratification, the life of political activity also seems to be flawed. This view of honor leading to happiness is controlled by society and others. The fact that honor leads to happiness proposes that happiness is not controlled by the individual, but is controlled by those who judge the individual. Some may spend a life time chasing this type of honorable reputation, when in reality, honor will not lead to happiness as it is superficial. The good should come from within, and honor is only received from others. Since honor is only received by others, one may never achieve it, and those that do may easily lose it. The only way to truly be happy is for the feeling to come from within, not from others and the outside. This view supports the statement that virtue is superior to honor. Therefore, virtue is another end of the political life. However, like honor, virtue seems to be too imperfect to be the good. The reason for virtue not being good is that someone may possess the virtues, however may be asleep or may even suffer the worst hardships. In addition, having the virtue is different than displaying the virtue. Even if obtained, happiness is not achieved unless the individual displays the moral virtue.

Aristotle’s previous argument can be seen when Aristotle would argue that receiving honor for such a deed (accomplishing the setback of the killer influenza) would not bring happiness, as it is dependent upon those giving the honor. Honor can be given for a moment, creating a false sense of happiness or could never be given at all. Therefore, if all actions are done to satisfy one’s desire for honor, he will never find himself happy. Even when honor is received for accomplishing a great task such as finding the cure to disease, the honor can easily be taken away. For example, because the virus has developed resistance towards the antibodies, the great honor that was once associated with the scientist may be belittled as he did not take the pathogen’s ability to develop resistance into consideration when formulating the antibodies. I do not believe that all actions are done to receive honor. In addition, different individuals have different views regarding honor; what may be important to on person may not be to another. The scientist most probably found the vaccine hoping to save many sick people, and not to receive recognition for his hard work. In fact, scientists who work for the government never directly receive recognition for their amazing discoveries, yet they still work and are dedicated in completing their mission and/or experiments. These people support my argument of actions completed with disregard to the honor received from the action.

Aristotle integrates happiness with moral virtue. Because there are three conditions occurring within the soul (feelings, capacities, and states), virtue must be one of these. The feelings include anger, fear, appetites, confidence, envy, love, joy, jealousy and other such characteristics which lead to pleasure and pain. Capacities are the responses to these feelings. For example, we are capable of feeling confident or of being in love. The state is the intensity, or lack thereof, of a feeling. For example, one can be indifferent, angry, or infuriated.

As a result of Aristotle’s contradictory ideas regarding honor, understanding whether or not Aristotle believes honor leads to happiness becomes difficult and confusing. He makes one argument stating that honor does not lead to happiness, but makes another argument stating that magnanimity, a moral virtue with respect to honor leads to and is a part of the greatest end, happiness. Personally, I believe that honor is a part of happiness; however, the lack of it should not cause someone to be unhappy. Although I do not believ

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