The form of the thinking which enters into conduct is that which
terminates in the production of a rule which declares some means to the
end of life. The process presupposes _(a)_ a clear and just
apprehension of the nature of that end—such as the _Ethics_ itself
endeavours to supply; _(b)_ a correct perception of the conditions of
action, _(a)_ at least is impossible except to a man whose character
has been duly formed by discipline; it arises only in a man who has
acquired moral virtue. For such action and feeling as forms bad
character, blinds the eye of the soul and corrupts the moral principle,
and the place of practical wisdom is taken by that parody of itself
which Aristotle calls “cleverness”—the “wisdom” of the unscrupulous man
of the world. Thus true practical wisdom and true goodness of character
are interdependent; neither is genuinely possible or “completely”
present without the other. This is Aristotle’s contribution to the
discussion of the question, so central in Greek Moral Philosophy, of
the relation of the intellectual and the passionate factors in conduct.
Aristotle is not an intuitionist, but he recognises the implication in
conduct of a direct and immediate apprehension both of the end and of
the character of his circumstances under which it is from moment to
moment realised. The directness of such apprehension makes it analogous
to sensation or sense-perception; but it is on his view in the end due
to the existence or activity in man of that power in him which is the
highest thing in his nature, and akin to or identical with the divine
nature—mind, or intelligence. It is this which reveals to us what is
best for us—the ideal of a happiness which is the object of our real
wish and the goal of all our efforts. But beyond and above the
practical ideal of what is best _for man_ begins to show itself another
and still higher ideal—that of a life not distinctively human or in a
narrow sense practical, yet capable of being participated in by man
even under the actual circumstances of this world. For a time, however,
this further and higher ideal is ignored.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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