Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: Virtue, Balance, and Happiness

Introduction: Virtue as Active Balance

When reading Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, people typically place emphasis on the role of habit in conduct. Virtues, or habits, according to Aristotle, are necessary for a good life, and that mindless routine is one way to achieve happiness. While the interpretation of Aristotle's texts may suggest "mindless routine" to many readers, in reality it could mean something closer to "actively holding oneself." This means, essentially, that the manifestation of virtue is in action. Therefore, maintaining balance and practicing a stable equilibrium of the soul can lead to happiness. This stable equilibrium can be understood as character. Under this interpretation, I agree with Aristotle that in order to achieve happiness, one must maintain balance and practice temperance. This essay highlights, through real-world examples, what this balance and temperance look like in practice.

The Mean and Moral Virtue in Aristotle

Virtue, according to Aristotle, is a mean — a way of understanding and judging what is truly painful or pleasant. When the soul is in an active state in which all of its powers work together, this is the mean. Character is the process by which the soul clears away obstacles that may thwart or hinder the soul's full efficacy. To achieve such effective action, one must pursue moral virtue. Moral virtue allows a person to achieve right reason and right desire. To achieve moral virtue, a person must occupy the middle ground, for it is only there — at the point between principles of action and habits of acting — that one can truly exist well.

Virtue, according to Aristotle, is a mixture of both belief and activity, which can be understood as disposition. A virtuous person is one who naturally behaves in a balanced way and feels pleasure appropriately. Virtue exists among the extremes of deficiency and excess, and there is no fixed mean; it can vary according to the individual. Regardless, if one is not naturally virtuous, becoming so is a hard and slow process that requires dedication and patience to sustain the necessary daily routines. This is the relationship between virtue and habit.

Moral virtues are voluntary. There are three principal moral virtues: courage, justice, and temperance. In Book V, Aristotle discusses justice, which can be likened to seeing a chocolate pudding and choosing to share it with others — the fair thing to do — rather than eating it alone. One can choose either option; the choice is voluntary. Interestingly, Aristotle holds that moral virtues share one thing in common: the beautiful. Ultimately, justice is the moral virtue that affects other people and represents a person who possesses all moral virtue. This falls into the concept of the noble.

Justice, Nobility, and Friendship

Nobility means understanding when punishment or reward should be used. A noble person is a just person, and friendship plays a part in Aristotle's conception of justice and nobility. He believes that concern for the good of others is integral to the temperance and balance needed to achieve happiness, a theme he develops in Books VIII and IX. All of this serves the beautiful — the act of choosing that the soul experiences. The wonder that accompanies the choices made adds to, or detracts from, the beautiful. Together, these demands constitute a substantial and ongoing effort to maintain.

Conclusion: Temperance as the Path to Happiness

Balance and temperance are what the human soul needs to achieve happiness. People cannot live in a state of extremes — this is what Aristotle was trying to say. To practice habits and virtues is to exist in the middle of the mean. One cannot achieve this without understanding the extremes and actively participating in actions that allow those extremes to be tempered. Virtuous actions that may seem mundane and routine — such as brushing one's teeth twice a day — promote a state of health and homeostasis, because one is taking care of oneself and avoiding the pitfalls of neglect. One can also look at the opposite end of the spectrum, where brushing too aggressively erodes the gums. Having habits does not have to mean extreme action. Having habits centered on temperance is the key to a happy life. People with a happy life gain it only through constant hard work and experience — experience that can only be acquired by navigating, and ultimately moving beyond, the extremes.