oints for becoming virtuous. In addition, he does not view virtuousness as something innate. Rather, nature gives humans only the ability to acquire virtue. However, while choice is certainly an essential part of obtaining virtue, Aristotle does not deny that particular conditions of upbringing and education are also crucial. Despite this specific weakness in Aristotle’s assessment of the means by which a person is able to lead a just life, I find that both Plato’s and Aristotle’s works are convincing in their deliberations over which life is happier, the just or the unjust. Both philosophers succeed in showing that the just life is good in itself, and that for this reason, the just life is the happiest life for humans. Or, as Aristotle urges, “The belief that the happy person lives well and does well also agrees with our account, since we have virtually said that the end is a sort of living well and doing well”.10 1.Plato, Republic. trans. G.M.A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1992, (367b). 2.Plato. (372a – 375a). 3.Plato. (508e). 4.Plato. (434d – 435a). 5.Plato. (441c – 444e). 6.Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. trans. Terence Irwin. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1999, (Book 2, 1103a – 1103b). 7.Aristotle. (Book 1, 1097b). 8.Aristotle. (Book 2, 1104b). 9.Aristotle. (Book 10, 614b). 10.Aristotle. (Book 1, 1098b)....
