Raymond Lopez

PHIL 242
Erik Lindland
6 November 2014
Is Aristotle Claiming Ethical Subjectivism?
After analyzing the Aristotelian text and searching through various
articles and opinions online at the subject, the overall conclusion that I have
constructed is that Aristotle (as a whole for his teachings and philosophy) is
not an ethical relativist. Aristotles general foundation for the basis of his
philosophy is virtue while striving to achieve a certain degree of happiness
and eudaimonia. It is incredibly difficult to act virtuously while maintaining
happiness. Sometimes, doing the right thing can make us appear unhappy
(such as returning that extra five dollars to the cashier who mistakenly
added it with the change), but deep down they are happy to an extent that
they did the right thing.
In the case of the text, at first glance it does seem that Aristotle claims
relativism when he says that what is excess or too little when viewing it from
the mean is not the same from individual to individual. According to
Aristotle, he says by the intermediate in the object I mean that which is
equidistant from each of the extremes, which is one and the same for all; by
the intermediate relatively to us that which is neither too much nor too little
and this is not one, nor the same for all. Clarifying that statement:
everyone has a scale where each virtue is the mean in the exact middle of

the scale between the extremes, and no virtue is classified as an extreme. In

order for the person to be virtuous, they should not aim to live as one of the
extremes, and this goes for everybody. All virtues are classified as the same
for everybody. In the latter part of Aristotles statement, what is relative is
the amount in which an individual must take in in order to achieve
moderation with that certain virtue. For the example dealing with the virtue
of temperance, everyone has the same absolute scale, with temperance as
the midpoint between gluttony and prude, but what one individual needs to
cut out or partake in more will highly vary from one individual to another,
and it is all relative to where he/she is on that scale. Aristotle knows that
everyone has different needs and necessities because everyone has different
personalities, states of health, etc so obviously everyone must
attain/maintain virtuous lifestyles in different ways. But he believes that all
virtues on their own respective scales are universal or absolute, and this
does not classify Aristotle as a relativist.
In terms of ethical subjectivism, Aristotle also does not believe in it.
Ethical subjectivism is the belief that what is morally right or wrong only
depends upon the person viewing it. In other words, what is right and wrong
is relative to a person, and there is no universally accepted answer for an
action. This is because Aristotle believes that the goal of human beings is to
live in each virtue (live in the mean) while trying to reach happiness, and he
developed his ideas to benefit everybody. Philosopher Caterina Pangallo
(received her B.A. degree in philosophy from Sydney University) uses the

example of the tribe that, on tradition, burn the widow alive after his/her
spouse has passed away. Although in the eyes of the tribesmen that what
they are doing is justified because the practice is based on tradition, Aristotle
would probably say that this practice is wrong because it brings harm to the
widower and is a downright inhumane way of killing somebody as it inflicts
much torture and pain onto them. Aristotle was about promoting well-being
and happiness, and according to Pangallo, Aristotles concept of virtue is for
a common good in every community, and that common good cannot be
subjective, but more rather objective.
The fact that what Aristotle means when he says that the mean
relative to us is neither too much nor too little and is not the same from
person to person just means that everybody is different. Whatever one
needs to do to put himself/herself in the mean, such as indulging a little
more in the excess or deficiency, will be completely different from someone
else, and it also depends on where he/she is on that scale. Aristotle claims
that everyone has all of the same virtue scales, and this is absolute.

Citation for Caterina Pangallo:

-Pangallo, Caterina. "Is Aristotle an Ethical Relativist?" Ask a Philosopher.
N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov.

2014.

<https://askaphilosopher.wordpress.com/2014/01/28/is-aristotle-an-ethicalrelativist/>.