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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. What is the literal prize for boxers, according to Aristotle in III.9?

2. In Aristotle's view, what virtue necessarily accompanies or is within the virtue of magnificence?

3. With what is temperance principally concerned in the mind of Aristotle?

4. Concerning generosity, Aristotle says what concerning not taking something offered and giving something away?

5. A buffoon is described by Aristotle in IV.8 as someone who goes to extremes in order to make someone else do what?

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. How does Aristotle characterize those who are rash?

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

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

5. Why does Aristotle say that the things deliberated about are not ends?

6. What is Aristotle's distinction between the sort of injustice that is unlawful and the sort of injustice that is inequitable?

7. What is the content of the suggestion of Aristotle regarding overcompensation and the acquisition of personal virtue?

8. With what virtuous dispositions are Book IV, Chapters 6-9 concerned?

9. From what difficulty, according to Aristotle, does the dispute concerning the nature of happiness, as the end of all actions, arise?

10. To which of the vicious extremes is the truthful man closer in disposition and why, according to Aristotle?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oftentimes, examining a thing's contrariness is helpful in understanding the thing itself: consequently, Aristotle speaks at some length on the conditions in which man is found to be consumed with vice. These are scattered throughout the Ethics; in an insightful essay, unite and analyze the nature of vice as it is presented by Aristotle. What characterizes the vicious man? What is the vicious man's relation to knowledge of his actions? Why can the vicious man not engage in true friendships? How is the nature of vice demonstrated through particular examples of the behavior of vicious men?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Of the moral virtues, none stands in higher regard than that of one's greatness of soul. Analyze Aristotle's presentation of the great-souled man in a careful and thorough essay, considering both what greatness of soul is in itself and its relationship to all of the other virtues. How does it relate to temperance, courage, generosity, and any of the other moral virtues? How is it related to the intellectual virtues? What are some specific examples of a great-souled man? How does a great-souled man react in specific situations? What makes such a person exemplary for others?

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