The purpose of the fifth assignment is to teach the student to understand, summarize and evaluate the ideas of the Greek philosopher Aristotle about the nature of ethics and the role of virtue in the pursuit of the good life. You are to write at least four pages (at least 1400 words) about Aristotle’s theory of virtue ethics and explain why Aristotle sees virtue as the key concept to understand how we distinguish between what is right to do and what is wrong to do. You should also explain what virtue has to do with the pursuit of happiness or the Good Life, and what Aristotle sees as the Good Life for man. You are then asked to evaluate Aristotle’s ideas to see whether you see objections, limitations, or weaknesses in his moral ideas, or whether his ideas provide us with a meaningful and practical guide to how we should life our lives.
Your paper should use at least two secondary sources (outside of your lecture notes and the textbook readings) to show that you are able to locate, incorporate and respond in your paper to relevant information in books, articles, or websites about Aristotle’s ideas on ethics.
Your paper will be graded on how accurate, complete, and insightful you summarize Aristotle’s ideas, on how well you can show how his ideas are related to one another, and your ability to give a fair and accurate evaluation of the practical applications of Aristotle’s virtue ethics. You will also be graded on style, grammar, punctuation, and word choice.
