Aristotle and Neitzsche

A detailed Summary of Aristotle and Neitzsche

How should people live their lives? Two intellectual figures, Aristotle and Friedrich Nietzsche have given some suggestions in regards to this question. Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. Aristotle was more than just a thinker; he was a physicist, chemist, political theorist, and much more. Aristotle poses an answer: that a person's life should be based on and limited by the idea of virtue. Virtue is defined as moral excellence, righteousness, or goodness, and vice is defined as evil or immoral practice. On the other hand, there is Friedrich Nietzsche a literary and social critic who lived during the late nineteenth century. Nietzsche declared that man (people) should be strong and independent like the "Superman." These two intellectual minds present many of their ideas in their works. When analyzed a contrast is seen in the excerpts from Rhetoric by Aristotle and Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche.

In the excerpt Rhetoric, Aristotle talks about the ideals of virtue, an aspect that people should live their lives by. Aristotle defines virtue as "a faculty of providing and preserving good things, a faculty productive of many and great benefits...." Virtue has the

The second idea Aristotle explains in his excerpt is vice. Aristotle defines vice as "disgraceful." Aristotle demonstrates that vice is everything opposite of the components of virtue. The opposite of justice is "injustice claims what belongs to others, opposition to the law," committing crimes and wrongful acts such as stealing. The opposite of courage is "cowardice", not helping others in need. The opposite of self-control is "licentiousness," means no discipline. The opposite of magnanimity is "little-mindedness," means being selfish and not generous. The opposite of practical wisdom is non-sense or stupidity. This is what constitutes as vice according to Aristotle.

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As Aristotle goes on to talk more about virtue, he proposes another interpretation of virtue, "whatever produces virtue, as it tends to it, must be noble...," which means the thing that promotes virtue is considered to be noble. Then Aristotle discusses acts of nobility. Aristotle states that "those things of which the reward is honour are noble...," such as something done without interest in money, something that is just purely good, or something done for the sake of one's country, without considering one's own interests and selfish motives. Aristotle also states that "and those things are noble which it is possible for a man to possess after death...," such as acts done for benefit to others, all acts of kindness, or success which was gained for the sake of others. According to Aristotle other acts of nobility include acting w

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Approximate Word count = 1073
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English