View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who, in the view of Aristotle, is incapable of having the sort of friendship described in IX.4?

2. As Aristotle says in X.3, according to some people, if pleasure is not classed among qualities, it is also not classed among what?

3. What is the impasse Aristotle confronts in IX.8?

4. What does Aristotle discuss as being an impediment to happiness, despite many having an opinion to the contrary, in VII.13?

5. For what sort of living environment does Aristotle say the human being is meant in IX.9?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the distinction of Aristotle between having goodwill and having friendship that Aristotle points to in IX.5.

2. Through the possession of what virtue, according to Aristotle, is man said to have possession of all the intellectual virtues, at least to some degree, and why?

3. Explain the three sorts of friendship described in Book VIII.

4. Why do friendships of utility quickly come about and subsequently dissolve, according to Aristotle?

5. What is the essential unity that Aristotle claims between knowledge and action in the person possessed of practical judgment?

6. Why is it said by Aristotle that the lesser types of friendship are called friendship only insofar as they resemble the highest?

7. Why does Aristotle state that there is a virtue connected with art, but that practical judgment is itself an end?

8. For Aristotle, in what does the relationship between man's nature and his need for friends consist?

9. What is meant by Aristotle saying that pleasures from different sources can be impediments to activities?

10. Why is it difficult, in the opinion of Aristotle, for a person to have many close and virtuous friends?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compose an analytical essay which insightfully compares and contrasts the states of moral character of those whose souls are in conditions of self-restraint and a lack of restraint. How are they related to the other states of character? How are they related to one another? With what sort of things do they struggle? How do they improve or worsen their conditions? What do they demonstrate about the nature of virtuous action and human desires?

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

Near the end of his Ethics, Aristotle states that perfect happiness comes through the act of contemplation, the only activity that man does entirely for its own sake. Analyze this postulation in a very insightful and carefully planned essay. Why is contemplation considered a perfect action? Does this claim seem justified? Why or why not? Why does Aristotle state that the act of contemplation is that in which perfect happiness and perfect pleasure exist?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,217 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample