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Aristotle is inclined to view human interaction as something which incites one to desire the happiness of his relational partner as the chief end of the relationship. This is a point which is absolutely essential to the conception of goodness which Aristotle holds as most valuable. He identifies a self-love, as it were, as one of the most important elements in forging a meaningful and positive relationship to the world. An individual thus inclined, and prone there to by his own virtue, goodness, self-sufficiency and constancy, will desire no gain for himself from the lot of another man. Defining his own virtues as those by which he may further his own ends, he is then free to pursue life and relationships unencumbered by the vulnerability to develop envy, to harbor resentment or to harvest exploitation. The mutuality of these qualities, rather than an imbalance which can be particularly injurious to the party possessed of virtue at the hands of the party possessed of self-interest, is that which makes good people. Such experience are inclined to "have a positive influence on the development of one's character. This can be agreed by common experience. As Aristotle puts...
And they seem to become still better from their activities and their mutual correction (1172a 10-15)." (Thunder, 4) Thus, the virtue in a true, good act will be self-evident in the resultant degree of happiness.
And ultimately, this is what drives the altogether more socially codified work of Alighieri. Where Christian historical contextualization creates a stark differentiation in perspective, the works remain equally committed to the idea of goodness as a function of human interaction.
Works Cited
Alighieri, Dante. (etext, 1997). Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy. Gutenberg. Online at http://www.bralyn.net/etext/literature/dante.alighieri/1ddcl10.txt
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, translated by W.D. Ross. The Internet Classics Archive.
Online at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.1.i.html
Thunder, David. (1996). Friendship in Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics: An essential component of the Good Life. The Philosophy Site. Online at http://www.nd.edu/~dthunder/Articles/Article4.html
Works Cited
Alighieri, Dante. (etext, 1997). Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy. Gutenberg. Online at http://www.bralyn.net/etext/literature/dante.alighieri/1ddcl10.txt
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, translated by W.D. Ross. The Internet Classics Archive.
Online at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.1.i.html
Thunder, David. (1996). Friendship in Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics: An essential component of the Good Life. The Philosophy Site. Online at http://www.nd.edu/~dthunder/Articles/Article4.html
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Augustine is a Christian father of the late Roman Empire -- the traditional date of the "fall" of the Roman Empire is about a half-century after Augustine's death -- while Thomas Aquinas is a thinker of the medieval period. It is worth noting this substantially large time difference -- eight hundred years separates Augustine from Aquinas, just as another eight hundred years separate Aquinas from ourselves -- because we need
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