Wisdom and Character: The Moral Foundations of Aristotelian Political Philosophy

FAIN: FA-232901-16

Lorraine Smith Pangle
University of Texas, Austin (Austin, TX 78712-0100)

A book-length study of the moral foundations of Aristotle's political philosophy.

I propose to complete a book on the relation between moral and intellectual virtue in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (NE). This study will make several important contributions to contemporary debates about Aristotle’s ethical thought and moral responsibility. First, it will show the unappreciated indebtedness of Aristotle’s moral theory to the Socratic thesis that virtue is knowledge; second, it will distinguish Aristotle’s theoretical and practical intentions and show how puzzles in the Nicomachean Ethics can be understood in light of his dual audience and complex purposes; third, it will bring his treatment of intellectual virtue (NE 6) to bear on his treatments of responsibility for character and action (NE 3 and 7) in a way that has not been done; and finally, it will draw on recent work across the fields of philosophy, classics, and political science to bring relevant contributions into fruitful dialogue with each other.

Associated Products

Reason and Character: The Moral Foundations of Aristotelian Political Philosophy (Book)
Title: Reason and Character: The Moral Foundations of Aristotelian Political Philosophy
Author: Lorraine Smith Pangle
Editor: Charles Myers
Abstract: This book explores the place of intellect and intellectual virtue in Aristotle’s moral and political thought by means of a close, thematically selective commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics. Special attention is given to the end or standard that reason looks to in guiding moral choice, the meaning of happiness (eudaimonia), the relation between theoretical wisdom (sophia) and active wisdom (phronesis), and the failures of reason in the phenomenon of the lapse of self control (akrasia). The book argues that Aristotelian moral theory is best understood as a two-pronged response to Socratic thought. The first part of this project is to respond to the Socratic paradox that virtue is knowledge with a sober, practically useful, and phenomenologically accurate account of moral virtue as a unique form of excellence rooted in the passions, cultivated through habituation, aimed at what is noble for its own sake, and guided by its own intellectual virtue, phronesis or active wisdom. This project gives to the moral life both dignity and guidance as Aristotle refines and improves traditional moral opinion, while defending moral responsibility. In the second part of the project Aristotle narrows the distance between his own and Socratic thought as he probes the deeper sources of human choices, shows the central role of understanding in true virtue, and explores problems with the active life that are ultimately resolved only in the theoretical life. In all of this he suggests a far closer connection than first appears between theoretical wisdom and active wisdom properly understood.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo48408638.html
Primary URL Description: University of Chicago Press website
Access Model: print
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 022668816X
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

The Great Books Podcast, Episode 182: The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: The Great Books Podcast, Episode 182: The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
Director: John J. Miller
Abstract: discussion of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics based on Reason and Character
Date: 6/1/21
Primary URL Description: https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-great-books/episode-182-the-nicomachean-ethics-by-aristotle/
Access Model: oen access
Format: Web

Lorraine Pangle--Reason and Character (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Lorraine Pangle--Reason and Character
Director: Jeffrey Church
Abstract: wide-ranging discussion of Reason and Character and of Aristotle's moral philosophy
Date: 12/21/20
Primary URL: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/thepoliticaltheoryreview/episodes/2020-12-21T18_20_49-08_00
Access Model: open
Format: Web

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