Aristotle and the Virtues This page intentionally left blank Aristotle and the Virtues Howard J. Curzer 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,OxfordOX26DP OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork #HowardJ.Curzer2012 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished2012 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Dataavailable TypesetbySPIPublisherServices,Pondichery,India PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby MPGBooksGroup,BodminandKing’sLynn ISBN978–0–19–969372–6 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To my parents, Abe and Ruth Curzer, for starting me on the moral development path, and to my wife, Anne Epstein, and my daughter, Mirah Curzer, for keeping me on it. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people for their very helpful comments and suggestions on various parts of this manuscript: Allan Bäck, Aaron Ben-Zeev, Mirah Curzer, Shane Drefcinski, Anne Epstein, Bronwyn Finnigin, Lloyd Gerson, Paula Gottlieb, Herbert Granger, John Heil, Ben Miller, Daniel Nathan, Walter Schaller, Jeremy Schwartz, Thomas Seung, Robin Smith, Matthew Walker, and Charles Young. Special thanks to Rosalind Hursthouse and Christine Swanton for an invaluable seriesofstimulatingconversationsaboutthewholeofanearlierdraft. ThanksalsotoGarySantillanesforhisbibliographicalassistance. Chapters(3),(6),(11),and(15)arerevisedversionsofthefollowingpapers: (cid:2) “Aristotle’s Account of the Virtue of Temperance in Nicomachean Ethics III.10–11,”JournaloftheHistoryofPhilosophy,35(1997):5–25. (cid:2) “A Great Philosopher’s not so Great Treatment of Great Virtue: Aristotle’s Treatment of Greatness of Soul,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 20 (1990): 517–37. (cid:2) “Aristotle’sAccountoftheVirtueofJustice,”Apeiron,28(1995):207–38. (cid:2) “Aristotle’sPainfulPathtoVirtue,”JournaloftheHistoryofPhilosophy,40(2002): 141–62. Contents 1. Introduction 1 Moral Virtues 2. CourageandContinence(NEIII.6–9) 19 3. TemperanceandIncontinence(NEIII.10–12) 65 4. LiberalityandBenevolence(NEIV.1) 83 5. MagnificenceandHeroicVirtue(NEIV.2) 109 6. MegalopsychiaandAppropriateAmbition(NEIV.3–4) 121 7. GoodTemperandForgiveness(NEIV.5) 143 8. WitandWounding(NEIV.8) 167 9. FriendlinessandCivility(NEIV.6) 188 10. TruthfulnessandIntegrity(NEIV.7) 195 Justice and Friendship 11. General,Particular,andPoeticJustice(NEV) 223 12. VarietiesofFriendship(NEVIII–IX) 247 13. JusticeinFriendship(NEVIII–IX) 275 Moral Development 14. PracticalWisdomandReciprocityofVirtue(NEVI.12–13) 293 15. Aristotle’sPainfulPathtoVirtue:TheManyandtheGenerous-Minded 318 16. ShameandMoralDevelopment:TheIncontinent,theContinent, theNaturallyVirtuous,andtheProperlyVirtuous 341 17. Aristotle’sLosers:TheVicious,theBrutish,NaturalSlaves,and TragicHeroes 367 18. HappinessandLuck(NEIandX.6–8) 388 Bibliography 426 Index 437 This page intentionally left blank IfI’d‘a’knowedwhatatroubleitwastomakeabookIwouldn’t‘a’tackledit. HuckFinninTheAdventuresofHuckleberryFinn,MarkTwain