The central topic for this class is the virtues and vices as Aristotle analyses them in his work the Nicomachean Ethics. We will be concentrating on about half of that work, namely books 2-6.

The general conception of virtue and vice, and the more specific notions of particular virtues and vices, are absolutely central in Aristotle's ethics or moral philosophy, which is concerned with moral development, evaluation, decision-making, and behavior.

Conceptions of virtue and vice also play a significant role in Aristotle's studies of persuasive communication (in the Rhetoric), in social-political philosophy (in the Politics), and even in aesthetics (in the Poetics).

Virtue ethics, an approach in moral theory to which Aristotle is one of the major early contributors, focuses on precisely what it sounds like, i.e. on virtue and the virtues. These are good traits of character that conduce to a person who develops and possesses them enjoying a good and happy life, make for harmonious and productive relationships with others, and represent the right ways for a person to be and behave. The opposite of virtues are vices, bad character traits, which lead us away from happiness, distort or ruin relationships, and make us into bad people.

In our class, we will be engaging in close reading of each of the portions of Aristotle's text we study. We will be covering each of the important concepts pertaining to virtue and vice in general, and looking at what Aristotle has to say about particular virtues and their associated vices.

We will be studying these topics over the course of eight weeks and eight 90-minute class sessions. That turns out, based on my experience, to be about the right amount of time to work through this material in a systematic and leisurely way together. By the end of this class, you will have a solid and well-developed understanding of Aristotle's insights and ideas about each of the moral virtues and its opposed vices.

For more specific overviews of the sub-topics we will be exploring, you will want to go to the Overview for each of the eight weeks of our class, where they are outlined in more detail. But we can give you some more general sense of what our class will cover.

We will start in the first week of the class by looking at book 2 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, where he is setting out his complex conception of virtue in general, including the definition of virtue, how we develop it, and the general idea of the virtuous mean. He also divides virtue into a number of more specific virtues by distinguishing their subject-matters, so we will look at his division. This will prepare us for the weeks ahead.

In weeks 2 through 6, we will be examining his discussions of these specific virtues (and associate vices), which are discussed in books 3 and 4 of the Nicomachean Ethics. We will be dividing our study along the lines that Aristotle himself sets out.

• Week 2 will focus on two important virtues, often called "cardinal" virtues in other moral theories. These are the virtues of Courage and Temperance (or Moderation). These two virtues also bear upon our emotional states of fear and confidence, pleasure and desire, and how we manage them.
  
  
• Week 3 will be devoted entirely to one virtue, the one that bears upon the emotion of anger. This is translated by a number of terms, like Mildness, Gentleness, or Good Temper. During this week, we will supplement his Nicomachean Ethics discussion with some selections about anger and mildness from his Eudemian Ethics and Art of Rhetoric
  
  
• Week 4 takes us into the virtues and vices that bear upon one important set of external goods, our money and property or other wealth. Unlike most other ancient ethical theorists, Aristotle thought that these virtues needed to be recognized as distinct, and did not simply place them under another virtue. We will be looking at how to use, understand, and desire wealth with two connected virtues: Liberality (or Generosity) and Magnificence
  
  
• Week 5 similarly looks at two closely connected virtues that have to do with another external good important for many people, which we can call honor, respect, or social status. One of these is on a large scale, and is called Magnanimity or Great-Souledness. The other is on a more ordinary level, and is called Right Ambition.
  
  
• Week 6 focuses on three additional virtues, which Aristotle views as central to social life and enjoyment of time and activities together. One of these is Truthfulness, which has to do with representation of ourselves to others. Another is Friendliness or Amiability. The third is Good Humor.
  
  

In the final two weeks of the class, we will be focusing in on two other virtues that get called "cardinal' virtues by other virtue ethics traditions. One of these is Justice, and the other is Prudence or Practical Wisdom. Aristotle devotes the entirety of book 5 of the Nicomachean Ethics to discussing the different senses of justice, so we will spend an entire week on that.

We will finish up our class by looking at what Aristotle tells us in book 6 about Prudence, which technically is an "intellectual" rather than a "moral" virtue, but which is intrinsically connected with all of the moral virtues, giving it a sort of "in-between" status. We will also examine an additional important topic in virtue ethics, usually called the "unity of the virtues".