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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. By human excellence, Aristotle means what?

2. The attainment of serious moral stature is described by Aristotle in II.9 as being what?

3. What extreme is most comparable to the virtue of courage in the opinion of Aristotle?

4. The equitable distribution of justice is a certain kind of what, according to Aristotle?

5. What is demonstrated, in Aristotle's perspective, by the person who calmly bears misfortunes and sufferings?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Aristotle mean by saying that every art, inquiry, action, and choice aims at some good?

3. What is the distinction Aristotle makes between magnificence and generosity?

4. What characterizes Aristotle's notion of the generous person?

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

6. What sort of ruler becomes a tyrant, according to Aristotle's observations?

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

8. In what way does Aristotle claim gentleness (or mildness) is related to the virtues concerned with honor and magnanimity?

9. How does Aristotle characterize those who are rash?

10. What is the relationship of virtues to extremes of excess and deficiency in the philosophy of Aristotle?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compose an analytical essay which presents a clear thesis on some aspect of justice as Aristotle discusses it in Book V of the Nicomachean Ethics. Be sure to answer the following:

-What is justice?

-Why is justice a virtue?

-What is unique about justice as a virtue?

Essay Topic 2

In many cases, ethical rectitude depends not merely on a bland and level equality between men, but upon a sense of proportionality; justice is not merely ensuring that everyone has the same things, according to Aristotle, but that everyone has that which he is due, according to merit. Examine this claim in a structured analytical essay. Why does Aristotle advocate proper proportionality? In what situations does he advocate it? What are the strengths and weaknesses of his argument? Upon what does his argument depend? Upon what does proportionality depend? What is the relationship between proportionality and the various virtues?

Essay Topic 3

Of the five intellectual virtues, wisdom receives almost as much attention as practical judgment, but is simultaneously put somewhat out of the reach of human beings. In an analytical essay, examine the nature of wisdom as a virtue: its ends and objects, its purpose, and its position as an excellence or perfection as an intellectual virtue. How is it distinct from the other intellectual virtues? Why is it difficult, or perhaps even impossible, for human beings to attain? Answering this question will take some consideration of the whole of the Ethics.

(see the answer keys)

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