| In The Nicomachean Ethics,Aristotle borrowed the words of his friend Eudoxus to show his ethical starting point: all things are for good.Character education is a kind of practice activity that leads students to good,and its final goal is to obtain ultimate good.However,in the understanding of ultimate good as one of core concepts in virtue ethics,East and West have their own different paths.In Great Learning,the purpose of Great Learning is to enlighten the excellent virtues,innovate people,and guide them to the ultimate good as well.Specifically,As a sovereign,his ultimate good lies in benevolence.As a minister,his ultimate good lies in reverence.As a son,his ultimate good lies in filial piety.As a father,his ultimate good lies in kindness.As an ordinary citizen in communication with others,his ultimate good lies in honest.Here,we can see that in the Confucian culture,we treat people differently for the ultimate good.The reason for this is that the traditional Chinese society has always followed the pattern of differential order.In the West,the situation is very different.Due to the long-established group structure of Western society,people are focusing on the ultimate good in eudaemonia.In other words,all members of the political city-state have made the life of eudaemonia as the ultimate goal of their lives.The eudaemonia mentioned here is not the happiness,which is generally sensed by the subjective experience in modern ethics.eudaemonia in virtue ethics refers to what God is pleased with,or it can be said to be a thing that conforms to divinity.It is both a well-being and an objective state of flourishing.In Aristotle's view,eudaemonia refers to the complete realization or fulfillment of human body and soul,especially the perfect realization of the best thought activity or meditation of human soul.In the exploration of how to achieve the ultimate goal of eudaemonia,the topic of this kind has been discussed by virtue ethics in great detail.Aristotle continued to follow the basic ideas of Socrates and Plato in his exploration of this issue,namely,the theory of eudaemonia--virtue.However,on the question of acquisition of morality,Aristotle escaped the framework of his teacher's virtual-rationality,and then turned his attention to virtual-custom.He firmly believes that habit precedes reason.The process of education is a process of continuously socializing individuals.This process requires the three-end as the cornerstone.Aristotle's three ends mentioned in Politics are:natural endowments,acquired habits,and their inner rationality.Talent is actually instinct,human beings and animals share it.It is naturally available with the birth of humans and animals.Aristotle also referred to these natural gifts as natural characters,and some natural characters did not initially have an effect on society.With the involvement of later education,individuals slowly change their talents through the habits in their daily lives,making it into a transformed "second nature." These habits,acquired through the day-to-day moral experience,are accompanied by hands-on practices that allow individuals to learn to be good.Therefore,moral ethics does not discuss the good and the evil of human nature,but rather that virtue is not born,acquiring virtue is not contrary to nature.In addition,mankind is still a rational animal,which is the fundamental difference between man and animal,because reason is unique to mankind.From this point,good character requires the harmonious unity of natural endowments,habits,and rationality.Only then can individuals and humans thrive in prosperity.With this in mind,we can see that virtue is a necessary condition for eudaemonia.Although Aristotle framed First Eudaemonia above Meditation,Eudaemonia is in the same spirit as contemplation,and contemplation is God's realization activity and the most superior blessing.But for the mortal beings in a political city-state,only those who live in harmony with their virtues throughout their lives and enjoy external goodness are in eudaemonia.The eudaemonia of ordinary people obviously requires external goodness.Without external means,it is difficult for us to do noble things.In ancient Greek philosophy,whether a person in eudaemonia or not is an objective judgment rather than a subjective judgment.In this regard,one's eudaemonia is must baesd on three types of good things: the external good,the physical good and the good of the soul.Among these three types of good things,soul goodness is the most appropriate,noblest and truest good.Eudaemonia,X as the highest good,mainly refers to the goodness of the soul.This highest good results from the fulfillment of the soul's moral activities rather than mere virtue itself.Because the activity of morality itself contains virtue.Fulfillment activities are what Aristotle said in the ontological sense.Not only must it be done well,but its purpose is also only in the kind of activities that are to be completed well.For the discussion of virtue,Aristotle initially developed the concept of function(ergon)in the ontological sense.The ergon that is exclusively for people lies precisely in the rational activities of the soul.In this regard,a person is in a good state,and he puts people's functions to work well.This is the basic prerequisite for his prosperity.Aristotle divides the soul into three parts: plant soul,animal soul,and rational soul.First of all,the plant soul is completely free from the constraints of the logos.This part of the soul has nothing to do with the moral virtues of man.Therefore,it has no ethical significance.Second,although the animal soul is composed of irrational desires and emotions,it is divided into logos in the sense that the son obeys his father and therefore has ethical significance.In the end,Aristotle subdivided rational soul into theoretical rationality and practical rationality.As a result,Aristotle classified morality as two major categories,namely intellectual virtue and moral virtue.Moral virtue is also called moral character,because Aristotle focuses on a person's character gradually developed in the habit of social customs.The virtue of character show enough respect for human desire and emotion.If a person who controls emotions and desires is just enough to become a moderate or temperate person,then he is a person with good character.For this reason,Aristotle defines virtue as character in the definition of species.Character refers to the intrinsic tendency.It implies the stability and consistency of character.At the same time,Aristotle also illustrated the definition of morality as a character.Morality includes social value factors,rational factors,and emotional factors.One must first continuously internalize social values through good habits;then,with the development of rationality,it needs to continuously extract the essence of these habits through practical wisdom to make it a moral intuition;and finally,the individual not only accepts social value through reason,But also feel happy with doing noble thingsXI that are in harmony with nature.Therefore,character education is not only about what a person is doing,but also about what he enjoy doing.The acquisition of good character was initially a long process of gradual internalization by external motivation,through repetitions of the good behaviors and beliefs recognized by certain social customs.A leavening influence is the core feature of this process.We never find the education completed in a second,especially when education involves children's character.The essence of these excellent qualities formed over time in education is the combination of patterns of behavior and mental models built up by a series of interrelated behaviors in daily moral pracice.Character can't be formed by scattered and random acts.Only when a person can respond appropriately to the ethical situation in which he is driven by correct and moderate beliefs,motives and emotions can he be called a man of good character.In this regard,Aristotle put forward the concept of the golden mean.The golden mean is trying to be correct and appropriate while avoiding too excessive or too sufficient.That is,at the right time,on the right occasions,for the right people and things,for the right reasons,to deal with their own emotions in the right way.Like archery,the core meaning of The Golden Mean lies in the hitting of the bullseye.In the dimension of virtue ethics,character education aims to make every child acquire eudaemonia by fulfilling the activities of virtue.Character education is different from traditional moral education that aims to make people not hurt others at the lowest level,and help others at the highest limit.However,this does not mean that character education does not attach importance to moral life,but it regards moral life as only a part of life.In a more open-mind,character education allows children to think: What kind of life is worthy living? After all,the enviable life ultimately has to use flourishing as its ultimate goal.This requires that a person not only constantly exert his potential in life,actively participate noble activities that are compliant with virtue,but he must also be a person with moderation and freedom from pursuing low-level pleasures and being responsible for his own moral choices.It is not enough for a man to be a "good man".He must be a "good and useful man." A "good and useful man" shows the glory of both virtue and practical wisdom simultaneously.Aperson like this kind can integrate himself into the trend of human society and history only.In this sense,from a point of view as an educator,the character education based on the virtue ethics integrates “human power” and “human nature” organically and harmoniously.This is also the immortal heritage left by virtue ethics for contemporary character education. |
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