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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. How many kinds of things does Aristotle say there are that must be avoided, having to do with one's character?

2. About what, concerning the virtues, might one raise a problem, as Aristotle states in VI.12?

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

4. What question is presented in IX.9?

5. Amongst what age group does Aristotle report observing friendships forming less frequently?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain Aristotle's distinction between affection and friendship.

2. In what way, for Aristotle, do the pursuits of actions in accord with the virtues that pertain to politics and war differ from those that pertain to contemplation?

3. Explain the relationship Aristotle makes note of between affirming and denying in thinking and pursuing, and avoiding in desiring.

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

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

6. Why does Aristotle end his discussion of ethics by beginning a discussion of politics?

7. What characterizes the blame put upon people who are in animal-like conditions, according to Aristotle's perspective?

8. What is one reason Aristotle gives for which someone ought not to treat former friends in some way different than strangers if the friendship was dissolved to to an excess of vice?

9. Explain the distinction, and its significance, between Socrates and Aristotle on the relationship between knowledge and moral action.

10. According to Aristotle, why ought a good person be a lover of himself and a bad person not?

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

Though not addressed as explicitly in the Ethics, a persistent topic around which much of Aristotle's philosophical inquiry circles is the relationship between friendship and the community. Analyze this topic in a carefully developed essay, considering both the way in which friendship influences the community and how community influences friendships. What is the effect of virtuous, true friendships on a community? Upon what principles do such friendships exist, and why are these important to a solid community? What are the conditions of the community that help create such friendships? In what way are these two things reciprocal in terms of giving to one another?

Essay Topic 3

Amidst virtues that seem more magnificent, oftentimes Aristotle's considerations of the virtue of good humor--sometimes called ready wit--are glossed over. Analyze this virtue in a thoughtful essay, examining the importance of humor to an individual and to society. What constitutes the virtue of good humor? What are the vices in opposition to it? Why are these vices detrimental to individuals and society as a whole? Why is good humor important to society? How does humor aid man in seeking his ethically-proper end?

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