1 The Nicomachean Ethics is best understood as:
Correct. The Nicomachean Ethics reads like what it is: lecture notes, probably edited by Aristotle's son Nicomachus or his students after his death. That explains its compressed, sometimes repetitive style.
Think about where the text came from. Its compressed style, repetitions, and abrupt transitions reflect its origin as material for teaching, not a finished book prepared for readers.
2 Aristotle's worldview is described as teleological. What does this mean?
Correct. For Aristotle, every living thing has a telos, an end built into its nature. Understanding what something is means understanding what it is for, and this is the backbone of his ethics.
Teleology comes from the Greek telos, meaning end or goal. Ask what Aristotle thinks a thing's nature tells you about what it is for.
3 Why does Aristotle argue that "flourishing" is a better translation of eudaimonia than "happiness"?
Correct. Eudaimonia describes how a whole life goes, not a passing mood. You can feel happy on a given afternoon, but flourishing is something you achieve, or fail to, over a lifetime.
The issue is about time and stability. Ask whether eudaimonia is something that comes and goes from hour to hour, or something that characterizes a life as a whole.
4 What role does the "hierarchy of ends" argument play in Book I?
Correct. If every good were pursued only for the sake of some further good, the chain would never end and desire would be empty. So there must be a final good we choose for its own sake, and Aristotle argues it is eudaimonia.
Follow the chain of 'for the sake of.' Aristotle's point is about what would happen to our choices if every end were only a means to something further.
5 In the function argument, what does Aristotle identify as the distinctive function of human beings?
Correct. Nutrition and growth we share with plants, and perception with animals. What is distinctive of human beings is rational activity, so the human good is activity of the soul in accordance with reason, performed well.
The function argument looks for what is distinctive of human beings. Ask which of these capacities we share with plants or animals, and which belongs to us alone.
6 An argument is valid when:
Correct. Validity is about structure: if the premises were true, the conclusion would have to be true. Whether the premises actually are true is a separate question, which is where soundness comes in.
Validity and truth are different properties. Revisit the Logic for Ethics page in Start Here: validity concerns the connection between premises and conclusion, not whether the premises are true.
7 Why does Aristotle reject honor as the chief good?
Correct. Honor sits in the hands of those who give it, so it is too superficial to be the chief good. And people seek honor to be assured of their own goodness, which shows that virtue matters more than the recognition of it.
Aristotle's objection is not that honor is wrong. Ask where honor comes from, and what people who seek it are really trying to establish about themselves.
8 According to Aristotle, how are moral virtues acquired?
Correct. Moral virtues come from habit. We become just by doing just acts and brave by doing brave acts, until acting well becomes second nature.
Book II distinguishes how intellectual virtues and moral virtues are acquired. Remember the lyre player: some excellences can be taught, but others are only built by doing.
9 What is a hexis?
Correct. A hexis is a settled state of character, a stable disposition to feel and act in certain ways. Virtues are hexeis, which is why a single good act does not make someone virtuous.
A hexis is not a passing feeling or a single action. Ask what Aristotle calls the stable, habituated condition that virtue turns out to be.
10 On Aristotle's account, courage is the mean between:
Correct. Courage concerns fear and confidence. The coward fears too much, the rash person too little, and the courageous person feels and acts as the situation actually calls for.
Each virtue is a mean between a vice of excess and a vice of deficiency in the same feeling. Ask what feeling courage governs, and what having too much or too little of it would look like.