Blog #7

  

This reading drew many parallels to previous autobiographies that we have explored. Within Aristotle’s work, we are exposed to the inner workings of happiness operating as a fundamental virtue. The passage first starts off by saying that every action is meant to end up at something “good,” irrespective of the path taken to get there. However, as the reader, this is something that opens up a lot of interesting discussion. What does it mean to be good? This particular question is one that introduces a lot of discussion is: does being good based on mere individual moments or is it based on an overarching journey towards goodness that occurs throughout one’s life? Within our course itself, we are exposed to Franklin and Darwin’s journey to achieve a life of virtue, but only after their deaths and when we can glance back at their lives and the successes/failures in hindsight.

In Book 2, Aristotle goes further in depth to discuss the different kinds of virtues, ones that are taught to others (intellectual) versus ones performed through practice/lifestyle changes (moral). Both passages drew a lot of parallels between our other readings of both Darwin and Franklin’s autobiographies; in the latter one especially, we see that Franklin took active measures to become virtuous. In this process, he approached this topic by listing out his top virtues much like the Ten Commandments; he then kept a scientific notebook and tracked his actions throughout the day and made checkmarks by the virtues he acquired/maintained that day. Additionally, in Darwin’s autobiography, he notes how he had to part with his religious ways and beliefs in order to dedicate his life towards his work: science. In both cases, we see that these bright minds were self-reflective in that they realized that to reach their goals of happiness, and to maintain their virtues they had to change at the very core.