Compare and Contrast Aristotles Nichomachion Ethics and Upan

A detailed Summary of Compare and Contrast Aristotles Nichomachion Ethics and Upan

The four great revolutions in thought and religion that occurred in the first millennium BCE shaped the subsequent history of the world as the cultural descendents of India, China, the Middle East, and Greece attempted to define the meaning of life and understand humankind's relationship with the cosmos. The philosophical and religious movements of the world's major civilizations contained many common elements as well as significant differences in their attempt to answer the profound questions that arose at this time. The Indian document "Upanishads" and Aristotle's "Nichomachian Ethics" are two such works that show these differences and similarities in thought at this time.

When examining "Upanishads" (Fourth Adhyaya, on pp. 14-16) we get a sense of a more spiritual outlook on life and the self; as opposed to Aristotle's "Nichomachian Ethics" where the issues that are discussed are more "this world". The chief concern in India's "Upanishads" is the discovery of spiritual enlightenment and/or Brahman. In order to reach and understand Brahman you have to understand the "self". In Brahman the body is just a shell, something to house your spirit. Through self-discipline and the stopping of your natural desires you may reach Brahman

The "Upanishads" and Nichomachian Ethics" are great pieces of work, but they are, like any religion just ways of thought and they have their differences. I believe that the Greeks have a more universal way of thought. They take a situation and analyze and define what it is they want to know about, but they do it in a more "how it relates to the real world" way; whereas the Indians find some spiritual meaning and define the questions that they are seeking answers to and work from there. Gods and spirits make up a big part of the Indian way of life, as goes the same with how they perceive the "self". The high state of their being depends on how good a person they are, which quite possibly could be a similarity between both systems of thought.

Finding your place in the world during the time of both of these works could have been very difficult. India's "Upanishads" made life seem like it was this mystical world of being. Always striving for something you didn't even know existed could be very hard on someone. Brahman was a state of being, as was Aristotle's "human good". To find both of these you would have to follow some sort of criteria to reach them. More of a mental state with both waves of thought, but you would still be pushing for something you may never understand. These ways of thinking could have made society then very competitive, "Who's going to reach Brahman first?" or "Who's going to have these great trains of thought that will solve life's questions?" Both of these systems of thought implied that the human was able to be something greater and more in tune with the world and the "self". So if the person couldn't r

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