Arisotle and Plato on virtue
... Contrast this with Plato’s Position on the Topic. ... To develop a virtue, one must imitate the responses (acts and feelings) of a virtuous person. ... Genuine happiness lies in action that leads to virtue. ... Unlike Plato, who delighted in abstract thought about a supra-sensible realm of forms, Aristotle was intensively concrete and practical, relying heavily upon sensory observation as a starting- point for philosophical reflection. ... Plato often understands human virtue as likeness to God. On Plato’s view, virtue is a form of rationality that is valuable for its own sake. Plato and Aristotle argue for a virtue system of ethics, that is, actions are by their very nature virtuous. Plato for example talks of wisdom, courage and self- discipline as being virtuous qualities for their own sake, and also because they are good for the community as a whole, while Aristotle spends a great part of the Nichomachean Ethics listing what he thinks are virtues . ... Plato describes some things as being inherently good and virtuous, that is, some aspects of character. ... Aristotle links happiness to virtue very intimately, arguing that the supreme good for people is to be happy, and by acting virtuously will make them happy. Aristotle describes virtue as being “a moral state as makes a man good and able to perform his proper function well”(Book 2, chapter 5). Aristotle and Plato seem to have the same idea of virtue as being a moral, or what we call today a mental state, which allows man to function well. Aristotle and Plato agree that the virtue of an individual and of a state are interchangeable, although at the same time Aristotle does mention that virtue of a state being greater, purely by virtue of its greater size.