Overstraining Human Nature in the Nicomachean Ethics

Phronesis And Virtue of Character: The Making of Morally Right Goals in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

ARISTOTLE ON THE BEST GOOD: IS NICOMACHEAN ETHICS 1094a18-22 FALLACIOUS?

The first sentence of NE I.2 has roughly the form: “If A [there is a universal end] and B (because, if not-B, then C), then D [this end will be the best good]”. According to some commentators, Aristotle uses B to infer A; but then the sentence is fallacious. According to other commentators, Aristotle does not use B (until later on); but then the sentence is bizarre. Contrary to both sets of com...

Ethics in International Conflict: The Nature and Effects of Humanitarian Rights on Women and Children

Background: In all wars, the only group that suffers even more than the military is the civilians, because they are the target of these conflicts due to their physiological condition, and because they are less able to defend themselves, they are more at risk than others. Individuals are exposed and more exposed to violence and violations of rights and freedoms than any other individual or group...

The man-nature relationship and environmental ethics.

Our behaviour and policies with regard to nature and the environment should be guided by a code of ethics, which is to be derived from basic principles and from a pragmatic consideration of the issues at stake. The man-nature relationship has always been ambiguous, nature being seen as both a provider and an enemy. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, man is set apart from nature and called to dom...

The Ethics of Respect for Nature

I present the foundational structure for a life-centered theory of environmental ethics. The structure consists of three interrelated components. First is the adopting of a certain ultimate moral attitude toward nature, which I call “respect for nature.” Second is a belief system that constitutes a way of conceiving of the natural world and of our place in it. This belief system underlies and s...