Happiness (again he says — Polit. vii. 13, p. 440 E. p. 286) consists in the perfect employment and active exercise of virtue: and that absolutely (or under the most favourable external conditions) — not under limitation (ἐξ ὑποθέσεως) or subject to very trying and difficult circumstances. For a man of virtue may be so uncomfortably placed that he has no course open to him except a choice of evils, and can do nothing but make the best of a bad position. Such a man will conduct himself under the pressure of want or misfortune as well as his case admits: but happiness is out of his reach. (Compare Eth. Nic. i. 10.) To be happy, it is necessary that he should be so placed as to be capable of aspiring to the accomplishment of positive good and advantage — he must be admitted to contend for the great prizes, and to undertake actions which lead to new honours and to benefits previously unenjoyed: he must be relieved from the necessity of struggling against overwhelming calamities.
Aristotle tells us in the beginning of the Ethics (Eth. Nic. i. 3) — “But there is so much difference of opinion and so much error respecting what is honourable and just, of which political science treats, that these properties of human action seem to exist merely by positive legal appointment, and not by nature. And there is the same sort of error respecting what things are good.â€� If there be this widespread error and dissension among mankind with respect to the determining of what is good and just, what standard has Aristotle established for the purpose of correcting it? I do not find that he has established any standard, nor even that he has thought it necessary to make the attempt. There are indeed a great number of observations, and many most admirable observations in his Treatise, on the various branches of Virtue and Vice: many which tend to conduct the mind of the reader unconsciously to the proper standard: but no distinct announcement of any general principle, whereby a dispute between two dissentient moralists may be settled. When he places virtue in a certain mediocrity between excess on one side and defect on the other, this middle point is not in any way marked or discoverable: it is a point not fixed, but variable according to the position of the individual agent, and is to be determinable in every case by right reason and according to the judgment of the prudent man — “in the mean with reference to ourselves, as it has been determined by reason, and as the prudent man (ὁ φρόνιμος) would determine itâ€� (Eth. Nic. ii. 6). But though the decision is thus vested in the prudent man, no mention is made of the principle which the appointed arbiter would follow in delivering his judgment, assuming a dispute to arise.
In a previous part of Chapter II., he defines “the mean with reference to ourselvesâ€� to be “that which neither exceeds, nor falls short of, the rule of propriety (τοῦ δέοντος). But this is not one, nor is it the same to all.â€�
To render this definition sufficient and satisfactory, Aristotle ought to have pointed out to us how we are to find out that rule of propriety (τὸ δέον) which marks and constitutes the medium point, of actions and affections, in relation to ourselves — this medium point being in his opinion virtue. To explain what is meant by a medium in relation to ourselves, by the words τὸ δέον, the rule of propriety, is only a change of language, without any additional information.
Thus the capital problem of moral philosophy still remains unsolved.
It is remarkable that Aristotle in some parts of his treatise states very distinctly what this problem is, and what are the points essential to its solution: he speaks as if he were fully aware of that which was wanting to his own treatise, and as if he were preparing to supply the defect: but still the promise is never realized. Take for example the beginning of Book VI. Eth. Nic.
“Since it has been already laid down, that we ought to choose the middle point and not either the excess or the defect — and since the middle point is that which right reason determines — let us distinguish what that is. For in all the mental habits which have been described, as well as in all others also, there is a certain aim, by a reference to which the rational being is guided either in relaxing or in restricting: and there is a certain definite boundary of those medial points, which we affirm to exist between excess and defect, determinable according to right reason. To speak thus, however, is indeed correct enough, but it gives no distinct information (οὐθὲν δὲ σαφές): for in all other modes of proceeding which are governed by scientific principles it is quite just to say that you ought neither to work nor to rest more than is sufficient nor less than is sufficient, but to a degree midway between the two and agreeably to right reason. But a man who has only this information would be no wiser than he was before it, any more than he would know what things he ought to apply to his body, by being simply told that he must apply such things as medical science and as the medical practitioner directed. Wherefore, with respect also to the habits of the soul we must not be content with merely giving a general statement in correct language, but we must farther discriminate what right reason is, and what is its definition.â€�
This is a very clear and candid statement of the grand and fundamental defect in Aristotle’s theory of Ethics. He says very truly that “there is a certain end and aim (σκόπος), to which a rational being has reference when he either restricts or relaxes any disposition.â€� It was incumbent on Aristotle to explain what this σκόπος was; but this he never does, though he seems so clearly to have felt the want of it. We might have supposed that after he had pointed out what was required to impart specific meaning to correct but vague generalities, he would have proceeded at once to fill up the acknowledged chasm in his theory: but instead of this, he enters into an analysis of the intellect, speculative and practical, and explains the varieties of intellectual, as contradistinguished from moral, excellence. This part of his work is highly valuable and instructive: but I cannot find that he ever again touches upon the σκόπος, which had been admitted to be as yet undetermined. In a certain sense, it is indeed true that he endeavours “to discriminate what right reason is, and what is its definition:â€� for he classifies the intellectual functions into intellect (νοῦς), science (ἐπιστήμη), wisdom (σοφία), art (τέχνη), prudence (φρόνησις): he states the general nature of each of these attributes, and the range of subjects to which it applies. He tells us that intellect and prudence have reference to human conduct — that prudence is “concerned with things just and honourable and good for manâ€� (vii. 12) — “with the things of man, and those things regarding which we deliberateâ€� (vii. 7) — “prudence must needs be a true habit according to reason, concerned with the good of manâ€� (vii. 5). In explaining what prudence is, he tells us that it is according to reason: in explaining what is right reason, he tells us that it is according to prudence. He thus seems to make use of each as a part of the definition of the other. But however this may be, certain it is that he never fulfils the expectation held out in the beginning of the Sixth Book, nor ever clears up the οὐδὲν σαφὲς there acknowledged.
There is one sentence at the beginning of vi. 5, which looks as if it conveyed additional information upon the difficulty in question — “Now it seems to belong to the prudent man to be able to deliberate aright concerning the things that are good and profitable to himself — not in part, as concerning the things that have a reference to health or strength — but concerning the things that refer to the whole of living wellâ€� (πρὸς τὸ εὖ ζῇν). But this in point of fact explains nothing. For living well is the same as happiness: happiness is the active exercise of the soul according to virtue: therefore virtue must be known, before we can know what living well is.
I think that this σκόπος or end, which Aristotle alludes to in the beginning of the Sixth Book as not having been yet made clear, appears to be more distinctly brought out in a previous passage than it is in any portion of the Treatise after the beginning of the Sixth Book. In Book IV. 6, Aristotle treats of the virtues and defects connected with behaviour in social intercourse: the obsequious at one extreme, the peevish or quarrelsome at the other: and the becoming medium, though it had no special name, which lay between them. Speaking of the person who adopts this becoming medium, he says — “We have said generally, then, that he will associate with people as he ought; and having, moreover, a constant reference to what is honourable and what is expedient, he will aim at not giving pain or at contributing pleasure.â€�