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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following words least accurately describes the virtue that is the topic of IV.5?

2. What is the difficulty Aristotle cites concerning the praise and blame of the moral quality of the actions of others?

3. Which sort of political justice is most universal in Aristotle's view?

4. How many types of justice are discussed in V.4?

5. What is the virtuous disposition most directly concerned, for Aristotle, with playfulness and humor?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain what is meant by Aristotle in saying that youth should not be involved in the study or practice of politics.

2. What is the relationship that Aristotle claims exists between the virtues of courage and temperance?

3. According to Aristotle, in what way is justice reciprocal, and why?

4. Explain Aristotle's distinction between the good and the apparent good, and those who pursue each, as given in III.4.

5. What does it mean to say, as Aristotle explains it, that nothing can be habituated to be other than it is by nature?

6. Why is doing injustice worse than suffering injustice, from Aristotle's perspective?

7. What does Aristotle mean by saying that a virtue is an active condition or state of the soul?

8. What is the tripartite distinction in the soul that Aristotle makes in Chapter 13 of the first book?

9. What characterizes Aristotle's distinction between "willing" and "choice"?

10. What is the significance of the quasi-virtues mentioned by Aristotle in the last part of II.7?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As one of the virtues primarily dealing with the irrational part of the soul, temperance figures centrally in Aristotle's conception of virtue. Compose an essay which analyzes Aristotle's presentation of the virtue of temperance. What part of the soul does temperance restrain? How does it restrain it? With what is temperance concerned? What stands in opposition to temperance? Why is temperance important to being a virtuous person?

Essay Topic 2

The virtue of courage is given significant consideration in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Analyze this consideration in a thoughtful essay. What are the extremes opposed to courage? To which of these extremes is courage closer, and why? What does this indicate about the nature of virtue as a whole? How does the courageous man react to fearful situations? In what way is courage relative to the individual man?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the Ethics, the topic of man's volitional powers frequently becomes relevant to the subject at hand. Compose an analytical essay which considers the relationship of man's will to his virtue, particularly regarding the topics of friendship and justice. Why is man's will important to these topics? What is the role of man's volitional powers in his pursuit of virtue? How does man's will relate to his states of moral character? How does it relate to his friendships? Why is it important to the enacting of justice?

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