February 11th Class Review

In class we talked about virtue. In order to have virtue, we must show our rational side. We are different from animals in the sense that we are rational beings. To be virtuous, you must act in the right way for the right reasons with the right feeling at the right time. Having virtue is being able to feel at an appropriate level of emotion at a given time. The example in class was if your children were murdered, you were allowed to feel anger but an appropriate amount for that situation. We talked about how everyone has desires for food and sex but in order to be virtuous we must take those desires and use them appropriately. Instead having sex with whatever just to procreate, you choose your own partner. We asked whether a woman has virtue if she is promiscuous. In order to be virtuous she has to believe that what she is doing, other women should do, a universal truth. Our reasons have to match our desires. In class we watched Seinfeld and examined two characters, Elaine and George. We had to determine whether either of them was virtuous. In class we discussed George was virtuous. That how he stood up to the man in the theater was a virtuous act and Aristotle said virtuous people would be recognized. Some argued that he wasn’t virtuoso because he had the right desires (to get laid) and but not the right reasons. Elaine was not virtuous because she gave into her desires instead being a rational being. We also discussed leisure time, and how we must learn how to spend our leisure time appropriately.