Aristotelian Sense There Are Nearly Research Paper

Mill believed that any act may itself be inherently moral, so long as the outcome of that action produces a benign effect. Mill believed that the most ethical act is that which produces the most good, even if the act itself is one which is traditionally considered evil. An example of utilitarian philosophy would include the killing of innocent animals to determine a cure for some infectious disease. And while there are components of this philosophy that would certainly align with Aristotle's definition of ethics, it seems difficult to picture the latter condoning any method to achieve moral behavior, particularly in regards to the following quotation from Nichomachean Ethics. "A man will not live like that by virtue of his humanness, but by virtue of some divine thing within him. His activity is as superior to the activity of the other virtues as this divine thing is to his composite character…We should not follow popular advice and…have only mortal thought...but should become immortal and do everything toward living the best in us (Aristotle, p. 107)."

The ultimate result of Aristotle's moral excellence, it appears, would be to express the divinity of mankind's creator within men and women. The "immortality" referenced is the immortality of God, creating a parallel into how man should attempt to act and how God does, which would certainly seem to rule out Mills' utilitarianism. The means of an action are equally as important as the result.

Works Cited

Aristotle. Nicomachan Ethics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. Print.

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Indianapolis: Hacket Publishing, 1994. Print.

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. New York: Penguin Classics, 1985. Print.

Minch, Michael and Weigel, Christine. Living Ethics. Washington: Thomson, 2008. Print

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Gay Science. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1882.….....