In Search of Virtue in Honors Essays -- Aristotle Friendship Philosoph

In Search of Virtue in Honors Of the three forms of friendship discussed by Aristotle—the useful, the pleasant, and the good—the ideal seminar most resembles the perfectly good friendship between â€Å"good men who are alike in excellence or virtue† (Aristotle 1156b). A seminar, the Swarthmore website reads, unites faculty with â€Å"small groups of dedicated and accomplished students† committed to â€Å"independent learning† and â€Å"dialogue with peers, teachers, and examiners.† In light of Aristotelian and neo-Aristotelian thought on friendship, virtue and practical wisdom, this discussion will first examine how an ideal seminar promotes student virtues and then proceed to evaluate an e-mail I wrote in response to an imperfect seminar. Aristotle contends that friendship is instrumental for acquiring and maintaining moral excellence: †¦the friendship of good men is good, and it increases with their meetings. Also, it seems, they become better as they are active together and correct one another: from the mould of the other each takes the imprint of the trait he likes, whence the saying: ‘Noble things from noble people.’ (1172a) Similarly, a seminar composed of individuals with student virtues—including diligence, intelligence, curiosity, patience, and humility—can best maintain and encourage virtue. Rosemary Volbrecht’s â€Å"Mutual Apprenticeship in moral development,† Nancy Sherman’s â€Å"Making a Necessity of Virtue,† Laurence Thomas’ Living Morally and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics outline the means by which friendship encourages moral virtue. An extrapolation from moral virtues to student virtues frames their discussion in the context of an honors seminar at Swarthmore. Volbrecht highlights the importance of role models in experie... ..., but I erred in the delivery. A wiser, more amenable route may have included individualized messages. The real problem, however, was imperfect information and my lack of familiarity with the nuances of my classmates’ personalities. Aristotle writes, â€Å"[e]ach man can judge competently the things he knows† (Aristotle 1095a). His counsel offers little comfort when combined with rigorous epistemological standards. If flawless practical wisdom requires perfect information, then any decision by imperfect moral agents requires a search not for truth, but for the lesser evil. In my case, I hope the damage done was not too great. Works Cited Aristotle. Ethics. Sherman, Nancy. Making a Necessity of Virtue. Thomas, Laurence. Living Morally. Volbrecht, Mary Rose. â€Å"Friendship: Mutual Apprenticeship in Moral Development.† Journal of Value Inquiry, vol. 24 (1990).