On Virtue Ethics

• Describe the acorn/oak tree analogy as relevant to Aristotle’s virtue ethics.
• What is the ultimate goal that Aristotle thinks all action aims at?
• What are external goods? Provide examples and an explanation of their value.
• What are internal goods? Provide examples and explanations of them.
• Which of the two types of goods are most important for human well-being? Why?
• Explain the Golden Mean and how individuals gain the ability over time to rightly judge what good moral behavior is.
• Which of the types of goods does Aristotle say is most important and why?
• How does Aristotle say that our character is formed? (Explain how habits develop and how our will is shaped by action.)
• How does Aristotle relate politics (and institutions more generally) to ethics?
• Why is Aristotle’s ethical position known as a virtue ethics?