Albert Leffingwell - "An Ethical Problem"

James Buchanan - "Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws"

George Washington Cable - "The Cavalier"

George MacDonald - "Adela Cathcart, Vol. 3"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Ethics

A >> Aristotle >> Ethics




Now there plainly is a difference in the Ends proposed: for in some
cases they are acts of working, and in others certain works or tangible
results beyond and beside the acts of working: and where there are
certain Ends beyond and beside the actions, the works are in their
nature better than the acts of working. Again, since actions and arts
and sciences are many, the Ends likewise come to be many: of the healing
art, for instance, health; of the ship-building art, a vessel; of
the military art, victory; and of domestic management, wealth; are
respectively the Ends.

And whatever of such actions, arts, or sciences range under some one
faculty (as under that of horsemanship the art of making bridles, and
all that are connected with the manufacture of horse-furniture in
general; this itself again, and every action connected with war, under
the military art; and in the same way others under others), in all such,
the Ends of the master-arts are more choice-worthy than those ranging
under them, because it is with a view to the former that the latter are
pursued.

(And in this comparison it makes no difference whether the acts of
working are themselves the Ends of the actions, or something further
beside them, as is the case in the arts and sciences we have been just
speaking of.)

[Sidenote: II] Since then of all things which may be done there is some
one End which we desire for its own sake, and with a view to which we
desire everything else; and since we do not choose in all instances with
a further End in view (for then men would go on without limit, and so
the desire would be unsatisfied and fruitless), this plainly must be the
Chief Good, _i.e._ the best thing of all.

Surely then, even with reference to actual life and conduct, the
knowledge of it must have great weight; and like archers, with a mark in
view, we shall be more likely to hit upon what is right: and if so, we
ought to try to describe, in outline at least, what it is and of which
of the sciences and faculties it is the End.

[Sidenote: 1094b] Now one would naturally suppose it to be the End
of that which is most commanding and most inclusive: and to this
description, [Greek: _politikae_] plainly answers: for this it is that
determines which of the sciences should be in the communities, and which
kind individuals are to learn, and what degree of proficiency is to be
required. Again; we see also ranging under this the most highly esteemed
faculties, such as the art military, and that of domestic management,
and Rhetoric. Well then, since this uses all the other practical
sciences, and moreover lays down rules as to what men are to do, and
from what to abstain, the End of this must include the Ends of the rest,
and so must be _The Good_ of Man. And grant that this is the same to
the individual and to the community, yet surely that of the latter is
plainly greater and more perfect to discover and preserve: for to do
this even for a single individual were a matter for contentment; but to
do it for a whole nation, and for communities generally, were more noble
and godlike.


[Sidenote: III] Such then are the objects proposed by our treatise,
which is of the nature of [Greek: _politikae_]: and I conceive I shall
have spoken on them satisfactorily, if they be made as distinctly clear
as the nature of the subject-matter will admit: for exactness must not
be looked for in all discussions alike, any more than in all works
of handicraft. Now the notions of nobleness and justice, with the
examination of which _politikea_ is concerned, admit of variation
and error to such a degree, that they are supposed by some to exist
conventionally only, and not in the nature of things: but then, again,
the things which are allowed to be goods admit of a similar error,
because harm cornes to many from them: for before now some have perished
through wealth, and others through valour.

We must be content then, in speaking of such things and from such data,
to set forth the truth roughly and in outline; in other words, since
we are speaking of general matter and from general data, to draw also
conclusions merely general. And in the same spirit should each person
receive what we say: for the man of education will seek exactness so far
in each subject as the nature of the thing admits, it being plainly much
the same absurdity to put up with a mathematician who tries to persuade
instead of proving, and to demand strict demonstrative reasoning of a
Rhetorician.

[Sidenote: 1095a] Now each man judges well what he knows, and of these
things he is a good judge: on each particular matter then he is a good
judge who has been instructed in _it_, and in a general way the man of
general mental cultivation.

Hence the young man is not a fit student of Moral Philosophy, for he has
no experience in the actions of life, while all that is said presupposes
and is concerned with these: and in the next place, since he is apt to
follow the impulses of his passions, he will hear as though he heard
not, and to no profit, the end in view being practice and not mere
knowledge.

And I draw no distinction between young in years, and youthful in temper
and disposition: the defect to which I allude being no direct result of
the time, but of living at the beck and call of passion, and following
each object as it rises. For to them that are such the knowledge comes
to be unprofitable, as to those of imperfect self-control: but, to
those who form their desires and act in accordance with reason, to have
knowledge on these points must be very profitable.

Let thus much suffice by way of preface on these three points, the
student, the spirit in which our observations should be received, and
the object which we propose.

[Sidenote: IV] And now, resuming the statement with which we commenced,
since all knowledge and moral choice grasps at good of some kind or
another, what good is that which we say [Greek: _politikai_] aims at?
or, in other words, what is the highest of all the goods which are the
objects of action?

So far as name goes, there is a pretty general agreement: for HAPPINESS
both the multitude and the refined few call it, and "living well" and
"doing well" they conceive to be the same with "being happy;" but about
the Nature of this Happiness, men dispute, and the multitude do not in
their account of it agree with the wise. For some say it is some one of
those things which are palpable and apparent, as pleasure or wealth or
honour; in fact, some one thing, some another; nay, oftentimes the same
man gives a different account of it; for when ill, he calls it health;
when poor, wealth: and conscious of their own ignorance, men admire
those who talk grandly and above their comprehension. Some again held it
to be something by itself, other than and beside these many good things,
which is in fact to all these the cause of their being good.

Now to sift all the opinions would be perhaps rather a fruitless task;
so it shall suffice to sift those which are most generally current, or
are thought to have some reason in them.

[Sidenote: 1095b] And here we must not forget the difference between
reasoning from principles, and reasoning to principles: for with good
cause did Plato too doubt about this, and inquire whether the right road
is from principles or to principles, just as in the racecourse from the
judges to the further end, or _vice versa_.

Of course, we must begin with what is known; but then this is of two
kinds, what we _do_ know, and what we _may_ know: perhaps then as
individuals we must begin with what we _do_ know. Hence the necessity
that he should have been well trained in habits, who is to study, with
any tolerable chance of profit, the principles of nobleness and justice
and moral philosophy generally. For a principle is a matter of fact,
and if the fact is sufficiently clear to a man there will be no need in
addition of the reason for the fact. And he that has been thus trained
either has principles already, or can receive them easily: as for him
who neither has nor can receive them, let him hear his sentence from
Hesiod:

He is best of all who of himself conceiveth all things;
Good again is he too who can adopt a good suggestion;
But whoso neither of himself conceiveth nor hearing from
another
Layeth it to heart;--he is a useless man.

[Sidenote: V] But to return from this digression.

Now of the Chief Good (_i.e._ of Happiness) men seem to form their
notions from the different modes of life, as we might naturally expect:
the many and most low conceive it to be pleasure, and hence they are
content with the life of sensual enjoyment. For there are three lines of
life which stand out prominently to view: that just mentioned, and the
life in society, and, thirdly, the life of contemplation.

Now the many are plainly quite slavish, choosing a life like that of
brute animals: yet they obtain some consideration, because many of the
great share the tastes of Sardanapalus. The refined and active again
conceive it to be honour: for this may be said to be the end of the life
in society: yet it is plainly too superficial for the object of our
search, because it is thought to rest with those who pay rather than
with him who receives it, whereas the Chief Good we feel instinctively
must be something which is our own, and not easily to be taken from us.

And besides, men seem to pursue honour, that they may *[Sidenote: 1096a]
believe themselves to be good: for instance, they seek to be honoured
by the wise, and by those among whom they are known, and for virtue:
clearly then, in the opinion at least of these men, virtue is higher
than honour. In truth, one would be much more inclined to think this
to be the end of the life in society; yet this itself is plainly not
sufficiently final: for it is conceived possible, that a man possessed
of virtue might sleep or be inactive all through his life, or, as a
third case, suffer the greatest evils and misfortunes: and the man who
should live thus no one would call happy, except for mere disputation's
sake.

And for these let thus much suffice, for they have been treated of at
sufficient length in my Encyclia.

A third line of life is that of contemplation, concerning which we shall
make our examination in the sequel.

As for the life of money-making, it is one of constraint, and wealth
manifestly is not the good we are seeking, because it is for use, that
is, for the sake of something further: and hence one would rather
conceive the forementioned ends to be the right ones, for men rest
content with them for their own sakes. Yet, clearly, they are not the
objects of our search either, though many words have been wasted on
them. So much then for these.

[Sidenote: VI] Again, the notion of one Universal Good (the same, that
is, in all things), it is better perhaps we should examine, and discuss
the meaning of it, though such an inquiry is unpleasant, because they
are friends of ours who have introduced these [Greek: _eidae_]. Still
perhaps it may appear better, nay to be our duty where the safety of the
truth is concerned, to upset if need be even our own theories, specially
as we are lovers of wisdom: for since both are dear to us, we are bound
to prefer the truth. Now they who invented this doctrine of [Greek:
_eidae_], did not apply it to those things in which they spoke of
priority and posteriority, and so they never made any [Greek: _idea_] of
numbers; but good is predicated in the categories of Substance, Quality,
and Relation; now that which exists of itself, _i.e._ Substance, is
prior in the nature of things to that which is relative, because this
latter is an off-shoot, as it were, and result of that which is; on
their own principle then there cannot be a common [Greek: _idea_] in the
case of these.

In the next place, since good is predicated in as many ways as there are
modes of existence [for it is predicated in the category of Substance,
as God, Intellect--and in that of Quality, as The Virtues--and in that
of Quantity, as The Mean--and in that of Relation, as The Useful--and in
that of Time, as Opportunity--and in that of Place, as Abode; and
other such like things], it manifestly cannot be something common and
universal and one in all: else it would not have been predicated in all
the categories, but in one only.

[Sidenote: 1096b] Thirdly, since those things which range under one
[Greek: _idea_] are also under the cognisance of one science, there
would have been, on their theory, only one science taking cognisance of
all goods collectively: but in fact there are many even for those which
range under one category: for instance, of Opportunity or Seasonableness
(which I have before mentioned as being in the category of Time), the
science is, in war, generalship; in disease, medical science; and of the
Mean (which I quoted before as being in the category of Quantity), in
food, the medical science; and in labour or exercise, the gymnastic
science. A person might fairly doubt also what in the world they mean by
very-this that or the other, since, as they would themselves allow, the
account of the humanity is one and the same in the very-Man, and in any
individual Man: for so far as the individual and the very-Man are both
Man, they will not differ at all: and if so, then very-good and any
particular good will not differ, in so far as both are good. Nor will it
do to say, that the eternity of the very-good makes it to be more good;
for what has lasted white ever so long, is no whiter than what lasts but
for a day.

No. The Pythagoreans do seem to give a more credible account of the
matter, who place "One" among the goods in their double list of goods
and bads: which philosophers, in fact, Speusippus seems to have
followed.

But of these matters let us speak at some other time. Now there is
plainly a loophole to object to what has been advanced, on the plea that
the theory I have attacked is not by its advocates applied to all good:
but those goods only are spoken of as being under one [Greek: idea],
which are pursued, and with which men rest content simply for their own
sakes: whereas those things which have a tendency to produce or preserve
them in any way, or to hinder their contraries, are called good because
of these other goods, and after another fashion. It is manifest then
that the goods may be so called in two senses, the one class for their
own sakes, the other because of these.

Very well then, let us separate the independent goods from the
instrumental, and see whether they are spoken of as under one [Greek:
idea]. But the question next arises, what kind of goods are we to call
independent? All such as are pursued even when separated from other
goods, as, for instance, being wise, seeing, and certain pleasures and
honours (for these, though we do pursue them with some further end in
view, one would still place among the independent goods)? or does it
come in fact to this, that we can call nothing independent good except
the [Greek: idea], and so the concrete of it will be nought?

If, on the other hand, these are independent goods, then we shall
require that the account of the goodness be the same clearly in all,
just as that of the whiteness is in snow and white lead. But how stands
the fact? Why of honour and wisdom and pleasure the accounts are
distinct and different in so far as they are good. The Chief Good then
is not something common, and after one [Greek: idea].

But then, how does the name come to be common (for it is not seemingly a
case of fortuitous equivocation)? Are different individual things called
good by virtue of being from one source, or all conducing to one end, or
rather by way of analogy, for that intellect is to the soul as sight to
the body, and so on? However, perhaps we ought to leave these questions
now, for an accurate investigation of them is more properly the business
of a different philosophy. And likewise respecting the [Greek: idea]:
for even if there is some one good predicated in common of all things
that are good, or separable and capable of existing independently,
manifestly it cannot be the object of human action or attainable by Man;
but we are in search now of something that is so.

It may readily occur to any one, that it would be better to attain a
knowledge of it with a view to such concrete goods as are attainable and
practical, because, with this as a kind of model in our hands, we shall
the better know what things are good for us individually, and when we
know them, we shall attain them.

Some plausibility, it is true, this argument possesses, but it is
contradicted by the facts of the Arts and Sciences; for all these,
though aiming at some good, and seeking that which is deficient, yet
pretermit the knowledge of it: now it is not exactly probable that all
artisans without exception should be ignorant of so great a help as this
would be, and not even look after it; neither is it easy to see wherein
a weaver or a carpenter will be profited in respect of his craft by
knowing the very-good, or how a man will be the more apt to effect cures
or to command an army for having seen the [Greek: idea] itself. For
manifestly it is not health after this general and abstract fashion
which is the subject of the physician's investigation, but the health
of Man, or rather perhaps of this or that man; for he has to heal
individuals.--Thus much on these points.


VII

And now let us revert to the Good of which we are in search: what can it
be? for manifestly it is different in different actions and arts: for it
is different in the healing art and in the art military, and similarly
in the rest. What then is the Chief Good in each? Is it not "that for
the sake of which the other things are done?" and this in the healing
art is health, and in the art military victory, and in that of
house-building a house, and in any other thing something else; in short,
in every action and moral choice the End, because in all cases men do
everything else with a view to this. So that if there is some one End of
all things which are and may be done, this must be the Good proposed by
doing, or if more than one, then these.

Thus our discussion after some traversing about has come to the same
point which we reached before. And this we must try yet more to clear
up.

Now since the ends are plainly many, and of these we choose some with
a view to others (wealth, for instance, musical instruments, and, in
general, all instruments), it is clear that all are not final: but the
Chief Good is manifestly something final; and so, if there is some one
only which is final, this must be the object of our search: but if
several, then the most final of them will be it.

Now that which is an object of pursuit in itself we call more final than
that which is so with a view to something else; that again which is
never an object of choice with a view to something else than those which
are so both in themselves and with a view to this ulterior object: and
so by the term "absolutely final," we denote that which is an object of
choice always in itself, and never with a view to any other.

And of this nature Happiness is mostly thought to be, for this we choose
always for its own sake, and never with a view to anything further:
whereas honour, pleasure, intellect, in fact every excellence we choose
for their own sakes, it is true (because we would choose each of these
even if no result were to follow), but we choose them also with a view
to happiness, conceiving that through their instrumentality we shall be
happy: but no man chooses happiness with a view to them, nor in fact
with a view to any other thing whatsoever.

The same result is seen to follow also from the notion of
self-sufficiency, a quality thought to belong to the final good. Now
by sufficient for Self, we mean not for a single individual living a
solitary life, but for his parents also and children and wife, and,
in general, friends and countrymen; for man is by nature adapted to a
social existence. But of these, of course, some limit must be fixed: for
if one extends it to parents and descendants and friends' friends,
there is no end to it. This point, however, must be left for future
investigation: for the present we define that to be self-sufficient
"which taken alone makes life choice-worthy, and to be in want of
nothing;" now of such kind we think Happiness to be: and further, to
be most choice-worthy of all things; not being reckoned with any other
thing, for if it were so reckoned, it is plain we must then allow it,
with the addition of ever so small a good, to be more choice-worthy than
it was before: because what is put to it becomes an addition of so much
more good, and of goods the greater is ever the more choice-worthy.

So then Happiness is manifestly something final and self-sufficient,
being the end of all things which are and may be done.

But, it may be, to call Happiness the Chief Good is a mere truism, and
what is wanted is some clearer account of its real nature. Now this
object may be easily attained, when we have discovered what is the work
of man; for as in the case of flute-player, statuary, or artisan of any
kind, or, more generally, all who have any work or course of action,
their Chief Good and Excellence is thought to reside in their work, so
it would seem to be with man, if there is any work belonging to him.

Are we then to suppose, that while carpenter and cobbler have certain
works and courses of action, Man as Man has none, but is left by Nature
without a work? or would not one rather hold, that as eye, hand, and
foot, and generally each of his members, has manifestly some special
work; so too the whole Man, as distinct from all these, has some work of
his own?

What then can this be? not mere life, because that plainly is shared
with him even by vegetables, and we want what is peculiar to him. We
must separate off then the life of mere nourishment and growth, and next
will come the life of sensation: but this again manifestly is common to
horses, oxen, and every animal. There remains then a kind of life of
the Rational Nature apt to act: and of this Nature there are two parts
denominated Rational, the one as being obedient to Reason, the other as
having and exerting it. Again, as this life is also spoken of in two
ways, we must take that which is in the way of actual working, because
this is thought to be most properly entitled to the name. If then the
work of Man is a working of the soul in accordance with reason, or at
least not independently of reason, and we say that the work of any given
subject, and of that subject good of its kind, are the same in kind (as,
for instance, of a harp-player and a good harp-player, and so on in
every case, adding to the work eminence in the way of excellence; I
mean, the work of a harp-player is to play the harp, and of a good
harp-player to play it well); if, I say, this is so, and we assume the
work of Man to be life of a certain kind, that is to say a working of
the soul, and actions with reason, and of a good man to do these things
well and nobly, and in fact everything is finished off well in the way
of the excellence which peculiarly belongs to it: if all this is so,
then the Good of Man comes to be "a working of the Soul in the way of
Excellence," or, if Excellence admits of degrees, in the way of the best
and most perfect Excellence.

And we must add, in a complete life; for as it is not one swallow or one
fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that
makes a man blessed and happy.

Let this then be taken for a rough sketch of the Chief Good: since it
is probably the right way to give first the outline, and fill it in
afterwards. And it would seem that any man may improve and connect
what is good in the sketch, and that time is a good discoverer and
co-operator in such matters: it is thus in fact that all improvements
in the various arts have been brought about, for any man may fill up a
deficiency.

You must remember also what has been already stated, and not seek
for exactness in all matters alike, but in each according to the
subject-matter, and so far as properly belongs to the system. The
carpenter and geometrician, for instance, inquire into the right line in
different fashion: the former so far as he wants it for his work, the
latter inquires into its nature and properties, because he is concerned
with the truth.

So then should one do in other matters, that the incidental matters may
not exceed the direct ones.

And again, you must not demand the reason either in all things
alike, because in some it is sufficient that the fact has been well
demonstrated, which is the case with first principles; and the fact is
the first step, _i.e._ starting-point or principle.

And of these first principles some are obtained by induction, some by
perception, some by a course of habituation, others in other different
ways. And we must try to trace up each in their own nature, and take
pains to secure their being well defined, because they have
great influence on what follows: it is thought, I mean, that the
starting-point or principle is more than half the whole matter, and that
many of the points of inquiry come simultaneously into view thereby.

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