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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that When Aristotle says virtue makes the goal right, he must mean that deliberation typically proceeds from a goal more specific than attaining happiness by acting virtuously.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.For Aristotle, virtuous character constitutes the correct perception of what the end is in any given situation, not merely a starting point for further deliberation.
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    • 2.John McDowell argues that the virtuous person directly perceives the salient features of a situation as reasons for action, bypassing the need for a more specific antecedent goal.
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    • 3.If virtue itself shapes what counts as the right end, then deliberation does not begin from a pre-given specific goal but from a character-informed apprehension of what matters.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
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    • 1.Aristotle's claim in NE 1144a7-9 that virtue makes the goal right is most naturally read as virtue securing the orthos logos about the ultimate end itself, not a subsidiary goal.
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    • 2.Richard Kraut and David Wiggins have argued that phronesis and virtue jointly constitute the capacity to identify eudaimonia as the correct end, making the end-setting function non-derivative.
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    • 3.If virtue's role is to correctly identify happiness as the ultimate end rather than to specify a subordinate goal, the claim's interpretive move to a 'more specific goal' is explanatorily unnecessary.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Aristotle cannot mean there is no room for reasoning about our ultimate end, since he reasons about happiness itself.
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    • 2.More often, a concrete goal (such as helping a friend or supporting a civic project) presents itself as the starting point of deliberation rather than the premise that happiness consists in virtuous activity.
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