Workshop in Ancient Philosophy (Thursday - Week 4, TT24)

Chair: Alex Bown

Abstract: In this paper, I focus on the virtues of theoretical thinking—theoretical nous, epistêmê, and sophia—as they are discussed in Aristotle’s Eudemian Ethics. I develop three arguments—the Inclusion Argument, the Cooperation Argument, and the Teleological Argument—to show that the virtues of theoretical thinking must be included in what I call the Functional Unity of the Virtues. According to the Functional Unity of the Virtues, when they are possessed together, all the virtues of Aristotle’s ethics fulfil tasks that are useful for the well functioning of the other virtues. In this sense, all the virtues co-function and benefit one another. According to the Inclusion Argument, in order to achieve happiness, we need not only the virtues of character and the virtues of practical thinking, but also the virtues of theoretical thinking. According to the Cooperation Argument, phronêsis, the character virtues, and the so-called minor virtues of practical thinking accomplish tasks that are fundamental for the virtues of theoretical thinking to fulfil their full potential. That is, when agents have these virtues, their souls are in the best conditions for theoretical activity. According to the Teleological Argument, virtues of theoretical thinking and their activities are the final cause of the activities of all the other virtues and their activities.