Response 7

Notes:

For this week, the prompt is

Aristotle believed that most humans are able to recognize virtuous (or noble, in Sachs's intro) people. The foundational social virtue in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is justice, which is the topic of Book V. Which person or persons (either personal connections or public individuals) do you think best exemplify the virtue as he describes it? Make sure you clearly state which element(s) of justice from Nicomachean Ethics (with academic pagination) that you are citing.

Structure

P1: Establishing Aristotle's View and the Role of Justice

Recognizing Virtue: Start by affirming that Aristotle (or the expert person of "serious moral stature," the spoudaios) is the measure of moral truth. The text suggests that the person of moral stature is "the one to whom things appear as they truly are" (1113a 30-1). Sachs confirms that the concept of the "noble" is often used (as in your prompt) to translate the Greek to kalon (the beautiful), which is the ultimate end of all virtues.
Justice's Importance: State that justice is the foundational social virtue, as discussed extensively in NE Book V. Aristotle describes one sense of justice as "complete virtue... in relation to someone else" (1129b 26-7). This highlights its social dimension, as the just person "is also capable of putting it to use in relation to someone else".

P2: Identifying Specific Elements of Justice and Applying Example

Aristotle distinguishes between general justice (the whole of virtue in relation to others) and particular justice, which is a part of virtue concerned specifically with not being greedy (pleonexia)—the desire to have more than one deserves (1129b 1-10, 253)
Grandfather classroom example

Distributive Justice in the Classroom

The concept of Distributive Justice (1130b 30-33) is centered on the allocation of "honor or money, or as many other things as are divisible" based on proportional merit (1131a 25-32). In the context of education, the most salient divisible good a teacher controls is honor or recognition, typically given through grades, awards, and opportunities.

A grandfather who excels in distributive justice would be defined by his commitment to ensuring that rewards and outcomes are proportional to effort and inherent worth, rather than favoritism or irrelevant factors:

Proportional Evaluation: He ensures that grades or praise are distributed based strictly on the quality and creativity of the student's work or the development of their ideas, rather than alignment with popular social opinions or even his own beliefs. This application of justice demands proportional equality, ensuring that those who contribute more merit receive a commensurately greater share of the recognition.
Fair Opportunity: He recognizes that a community stays together by paying things back proportionately (1132b 31-1133a 5). In the classroom, this translates to balancing the distribution of educational attention, encouraging discussion, and fairly grading performance based on effort and learning, ensuring that the "equality" achieved aligns with the individual student's merit in their educational endeavor.

Draft

I believe my grandfather properly reflects Aristotle's virtue of justice, particularly the element of Decency (Epieikeia), in his role as a professor. Decency is a certain kind of justice described as a "setting straight of what is legally just", necessary because every universal law fails to speak rightly about everything in every particular case (1137b 12-19). To exemplify this, I want to argue that my grandfather is flexible and thoughtful when applying universal policies in the classroom, like may be deadlines or assignment requirements, to the particular circumstances of a student. In this way he is able to judge particulars and correct rigidity accordingly, supporting the characteristic decency of him.

A teacher’s rules are a form of universal "law", and as we have learned throughout Nichomachean Ethics, judgement in matters of virtue is found in the perceiving of the individuals. If a student faces a personal crisis that makes adhering to a strict deadline very unlikely or impossible, applying the universal late penalty rule rigidly would be technically "just" but indecent. The decent person is inclined to "take less," even when he has the support of the law (1138a). This means he would moderate the consequences, like taking less of a penalty, to correct the error that results from speaking simply, choosing what is genuinely equitable over strict legal precision. Decency in justice is a higher virtue especially for the docents, as it addresses the inevitable conflict between fixed rules and complex reality.

A Teacher with Decency

I believe my grandfather properly reflects Aristotle's virtue of justice, particularly the element of Decency (epieikeia), in his role as a professor. Decency is a certain kind of justice described as a "setting straight of what is legally just," necessary because every universal law fails to speak rightly about everything in every particular case (1137b 12–19). To exemplify this, I want to argue that my grandfather is flexible and thoughtful when applying universal policies in the classroom, such as deadlines or assignment requirements, to the particular circumstances of a student. In this way, he is able to judge particulars and correct rigidity accordingly, embodying the characteristic decency in him.

A teacher’s rules are a form of universal "law," and as we have learned throughout Nicomachean Ethics, judgment in matters of virtue is found in the perception of individuals. If a student faces a personal crisis that makes adhering to a strict deadline very unlikely or impossible, applying the universal late-penalty rule rigidly would be technically "just" but indecent. The decent person is inclined to "take less, even when he has the support of the law" (1138a). This means he would moderate the consequences, such as taking less of a penalty, to correct the error that results from speaking simply, choosing what is genuinely equitable over strict legal precision. Decency within justice is a higher virtue, especially for teachers, as it addresses the inevitable conflict between fixed rules and complex reality.