Aristotle s Ethics Formal Letter

Formal Letter on Aristotle\\\\\\\'s Ethics

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(Recipient\\\\\\\'s Address)

Dear son,

RE: APPLICATION OF ARISTOTLE\\\\\\\'S ETHICS IN LEADERSHIP.

My inspiration to write this letter to you is drawn on my consciousness of Aristotle\\\\\\\'s ethical codes, which I find invaluable when applied in every domain, especially leadership, which is a task nature graced you with. I understand that you may face several dilemmas when going about your leadership duties, and you might be unable to identify the most feasible actions to enforce. However, I believe that a thorough comprehension of Aristotle\\\\\\\'s ethical codes could come a long way in enabling you to devise the best leadership skills in your responsibilities.

Aristotle was a significant Greek Philosopher with succinct ethical assertions that highlighted eleven essential moral virtues. Such include courage, liberality, temperance, magnificence, gentleness, truthfulness, wittiness, magnanimity, friendliness, shame, and justice. Notably, Aristotle acknowledged these ethical virtues as the guaranteed guidelines for a happy life and the ultimate deal-breaker when faced with ethical dilemmas (Hendricks, 2018). Besides being a Philosopher with resourceful assertions, Aristotle contributed immensely to Literature by compiling and drafting his views in the Nicomachean Ethics, where he ascertained that \\\\\\\"individuals are social beings who strive to live well.\\\\\\\" In light of this, he believed that the key to such happy living would only be enhanced through the meticulous adherence to his proposed ethical virtues, enabling people to reach eudaimonia, the state of flourishing (Hendricks, 2018).

Aristotle affirmed that courage was the midpoint between cowardice and recklessness, and not necessarily the absence of fear, as many people believe (Bartlett & Collins, 2011). Ideally, a courageous person is well-aware of imminent danger but remains open to identifying the most favorable decisions to undertake and implementations to enforce (Bartlett & Collins, 2011). The Nicomachean Ethics encourages people to stay courageous even in the face of grave danger because courage enables people to achieve more than they otherwise could have if they set limitations. Similarly, as a leader, I am aware that some decisions may seem skeptical and likely to cause harm. However, you should also consider the possibility that they may become beneficial if implemented well, and this should form the basis of encouraging you to invest in such decisions. It is worth stressing that you remain the mentor for all your employees and even people you may not know as a leader. Therefore, courage should remain your guiding principle.

The Nicomachean Ethics Book defines liberality as the art of giving more than one can afford without setting charity limits (Bartlett & Collins, 2011). Liberality enables an individual to become more open to sharing than expected to allow other less privileged individuals to benefit fully and not partially (Bartlett & Collins, 2011). In leadership, this ethical virtue is imperative as it enables leaders to remain overly competent in their duties without slacking, which would otherwise compromise significant business processes. As a leader, you should not limit your capacity to render your assistance and contribution in your businesses; instead, you should remain liberal when giving because this may ultimately bring you happiness when everything proceeds as planned. Suffice it to say, you would derive your joy from seeing others content.

The Nicomachean Ethical Codes define magnificence as the art of living extravagantly. The virtue lies between vulgarity and stinginess (Bartlett & Collins, 2011). However, Aristotle was wise enough to warn people against being flashy because this may induce pride and hinder one from making more progress when they spend many resources maintaining a particular image (Bartlett & Collins, 2011). Inarguably, remaining meek and savings-oriented is salient in ensuring that resources are invested wisely into profitable and productive projects. However, it is also necessary to avoid being ascetic and reward oneself with extravagance when projects become successful. Magnificence would enable you, my son, to become more motivated to earn more and maintain your plausible image that requires utter hard work.

The ethical virtue of justice entails dealing fairly with others without being discriminatory of anyone\\\\\\\'s background or status (Bartlett & Collins, 2011). Aristotle distinguished between natural justice and legal justice by admitting that the former remains constant, despite the time or place (Bartlett & Collins, 2011). On the other hand, legal justice encompasses various laws determining and varies between regimes (Bartlett & Collins, 2011). Natural justice was further propounded by Thomas Aquinas, who was yet another salient Philosophical figure in History. According to Aquinas, natural justice rules enable human beings to understand evil things, such as lying (CRF, 2006). As a leader, it is paramount to uphold natural justice by regarding the truth in all circumstances and encouraging your subjects to embrace the virtue of honesty. You should also remain truthful and let nature take its course in situations where you may feel like justice should prevail unbothered.

Wittiness encompasses the ability to have an excellent sense of humor and is the midpoint between boorishness and buffoonery (Hendricks, 2018). Aristotle affirmed that individuals needed to acquaint themselves with engaging in amusing conversations. However, he warned against going to the extremes of ridicule, which would render as \\\\\\\"buffoons and vulgar fellows\\\\\\\"; instead, wittiness, which people should only apply to induce a good laugh (Peters, 1906, p. 131). Good leadership entails good humor, which allows subjects to feel free with their leaders and comply effectively. Further, it encourages others to remain open to sharing anything with their leaders, including particular issues that might prevent risks. Therefore, wittiness is necessary to ensure that your subjects do not fear you, impeding them from disclosing imminent threats that might compromise your business engagements.

Gentleness entails considerable moderation to anger, which is necessary for everyone, regardless of how agitated we feel (Peters, 1906, p.122). Notably, the more people develop intense connections with others, the more they think aggravated when their loved ones betray their trust or offend them. However, Aristotle warns us against wrathfulness as it may blow things out of proportion and hinder an individual from making rational choices (Peters, 1906, p. 122). Leaders are at the frontline of the ethical virtue of gentleness as propounded by Aristotle because they hold the key to virtually all critical decisions and their implementation. To this end, leaders must remain gentle in every situation because rage is notorious for disabling people from applying logic. Similarly, you must be gentle in every aspect of your leadership and ensure that you moderate your anger emotions when you are agitated. Remember that there is absolute classiness in remaining civil even in the face of anger.

Truthfulness entails the utmost honesty and condemning the vices of boastfulness and habitual lying, which render an individual tactless (Peters, 1906, p. 127). Everyone requires candor as the ultimate redemption from falsehood, which taints one\\\\\\\'s reputation and makes others withdraw their trust from them (Peters, 1906, p. 128). Aristotle stressed that deception is vile and blamable, while truthfulness is noble and praiseworthy (Peters, 1906, p. 128). Tentatively, the art of falsehood emanates from the fear of being reprimanded and condemned, especially when the truth places negligence on an individual. In such circumstances, an individual may be compelled to incorporate deceit to avoid being penalized or viewed as negligent. However, such validation-seeking is merely temporary and does little to improving situations because the truth always prevails in the face of evil. Therefore, as a leader, you should normalize serving people with the unmatched truth because telling people things are they are will enable you to earn their profound respect and admiration. On top of that, being truthful will allow you to work on measures that could improve wanting situations instead of remaining complacent that you were successful in deceiving others.

Temperance is the virtue that forms the midpoint between overindulgence and insensitivity and is the moderation of the soul\\\\\\\'s pleasures (Peters, 1906, p. 91). Aristotle deemed it unreasonable to condemn individuals who partook in alcohol consumption and elucidated that he could comfortably condemn those who drank and those who did not the same way (Hendricks, 2018). Aristotle advised that despite seeking pleasure from the world and life itself, it is reasonable to draw a line between such pleasure-seeking by applying moderation, without which individuals would be unable to allocate time to matters that demand our full attention (SEP, 2018). As a leader, the extravagance level derived from the posh lifestyle may tempt you to overindulge in your pleasures at the expense of other serious businesses. In this respect, it is crucial to apply moderation while seeking fun and prioritize profitable activities that guarantee you success. Appreciatively, this can be interpreted as employing delayed gratification and dealing with pleasures later and sparingly, with much attention being given to productive matters.

Feeling shame may seem like a controversial element, but it is well-explained by Aristotle to inform understanding. Ideally, the Nicomachean Ethics Books defines shame as the midpoint between being shameless and being too shy (Hendricks, 2018). Essentially, an individual with the right amount of shame would be prudent enough to realize when they have committed a moral or social error and would not shy away from acknowledging the same (Hendricks, 2018). In contrast, a \\\\\\\"buffoon\\\\\\\" would remain shameless enough to joke at matters and even say things that would seek imprudent to reasonable individuals (Peters, 1906, p. 133). Aristotle warns against the latter behavior and encourages individuals to acknowledge when they have made mistakes to take the appropriate steps in mitigating situations.

Similarly, as a leader, you are expected to err because it is human nature. However, it would be improper to dismiss your mistakes instead of correcting them, as the former may imply that shame is lacking. In contrast, remaining objective about it would enable you to apply the \\\\\\\"shame\\\\\\\" criteria in correcting your mistakes and working to ensure that they do not present themselves again.

Magnanimity is the virtue that relates to pride which entails the midpoint between not giving oneself sufficient credit and having grandeur delusions (Hendricks, 2018). Aristotle speculated that the right amount of pride encourages individuals to believe in their greatness and applaud their progress to achieve more. In contrast, blatant pride that is uncontrolled prevents individuals from making any progress (Ross & Brown, 2009, p. 67). Thus, it is fair to state that people attract what they proclaim, which is contextually meant to explain that people who speak highly of themselves attain greatness. Thus, it is vital to recognize how much your efforts yield productive results and how those you lead have contributed to the success as a leader. However, reveling in the pride too much may hinder you from acknowledging that there exist areas that require more improvements to be made. Through the ethical virtue of magnanimity, you are encouraged to apply the right amount of pride in your endeavors and refrain from boastfulness.

The last ethical virtue in the Nicomachean Ethics Books is friendliness, which entails being compassionate about our associates and demonstrating affection appropriately, depending on its recipients (Ross & Brown, p. 75). It is worth highlighting that being friendly enables people to approach us, which is invaluable for networking, especially in the modern era where virtually every opportunity requires an individual to be well-connected. However, it is necessary to avoid being too friendly as this may attract disrespect and compromise your stance as a leader. Hence, it is incumbent on you to ensure that you apply good friendliness to your subjects to enhance easy association through your leadership. Moreover, it is necessary to add that your friendliness should be directed to influential people to contribute positively to your leadership because they best understand how they should contribute to it and how it benefits them.

Aristotle\\\\\\\'s Ethics on Leadership

Aristotle appreciated that a leader must have practical wisdom which deals with matters where deliberation and doubt are feasible (McKinney, 2008). He denotes that practical wisdom does not concern itself with eternal truth, science, theory, knowledge of facts, or even disciplinary knowledge (McKinney, 2008). Through practical wisdom, a leader is better placed to distinguish between what is right and wrong for the sake of groups instead of themselves (McKinney, 2008). According to Aristotle, practical wisdom is the ultimate prerequisite for moral excellence as it enables individuals to focus on how things can be instead of on how things are (McKinney, 2008). Subsequently, this reasoning line enables leaders to remain adept in making things better and avoiding basking in the glory of already-achieved goals.

Aristotle illuminates that leaders are tasked with making informed decisions for everyone under their rule; therefore, it is incumbent to ensure that they affiliate themselves with all the required leadership virtues for their role. For instance, through practical wisdom, leaders are consistently reminded that they make decisions for everyone else and that these decisions largely determine whether success or failure would be garnered. Aristotle also admits that leaders are not born, but they are self-made when they are affiliative with viable leadership skills. I support this contention as it illuminates the position that anyone can be a leader, as long as they thoroughly acquaint themselves with the eleven ethical virtues as asserted by Aristotle.

From the logical, scientific, ethical, and political assertions propounded by Aristotle, it is possible to derive invaluable leadership virtues from some philosophies he articulated. Through the \\\\\\\"to avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing\\\\\\\" quote by the Greek Philosopher Aristotle enabled scholars to understand that we can never please everyone (Galbraith, 2015). Therefore, it is more logical to strive to do the right thing instead of to please people because criticisms will always exist (Galbraith, 2015). However, reasonable people will always appreciate when they are served with the truth than pleased. Through this, you should learn that it is unreasonable to work to avoid criticism because human beings will always find something to complain about. Thus, in your leadership quest, always remain focused on doing what is good, moral, and suitable for everyone. Ostensibly, if you haven\\\\\\\'t been criticized, nobody has noticed you (Galbraith, 2015).

The \\\\\\\"he who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader\\\\\\\" mantra reflects Aristotle\\\\\\\'s position to make an effective leader only if one is an attentive follower (Galbraith, 2015). Being a follower entails understanding what people want and need and devising the most effective ways to intersect the two and provide people with what would best serve them (Galbraith, 2015). Palpably, being a good leader also requires one to be a follower through listening to others, concerns and acknowledging their plights and progresses (Galbraith, 2015). In light of this, it is palatable to appreciate that you should focus less on command and tune your focus on serving those you lead.

\\\\\\\"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit\\\\\\\", remains one of the wisest articulations made by Aristotle. The principle ascertains that when we make excellence a habit, we are more encouraged to do the right thing and do an excellent job (Galbraith, 2015). From this, it is essential to understand that excellence automatically becomes part of your leadership strategies by repeatedly doing the right thing and enables you to attract success consistently. Dear son, learning from Aristotle should remain your priority as far as your leadership is concerned. Through the eleven ethical virtues I previously discussed, doing the right thing is central in each of them.