PHI 2010, #6065, John Doe,
Summer 2021
Final Paper
How to make virtue win over vice
Many interesting topics were discussed during this awkward semester of controls, safe distance, where I only met half of my classmates. I learned how to make tomato sauce and hummus, but most importantly I learned about the different ways philosophical masterminds think.
Philosophers have the objective of finding “the truth”, but being the truth so absolute, they come up with different theories through which they hope we accomplish true living. The one theory that stuck the most with me was Aristotle’s moral virtue.
According to Aristotle, moral virtue is a disposition to behave in the right manner and having the ability to do so by creating habits and a positive mindset that allows you to make the best out of yourself during any sort of situation. A virtuous person is the one that can find the golden mean in all of their actions. The golden mean is the perfect balance between excess and defect. A person of virtue is courageous without being rash, generous without extravagance, and ambitious without being greedy.
I, personally, have always been a person that lacks discipline in most aspects of life. I am always able to convince myself to take the easiest path, the shortest road, and the less tiring way. While I have never been a lazy person in the sense that I am almost hyperactive, I procrastinate a lot by pushing on the things that present difficulties even if I understand that the end result is very rewarding.
I started this semester with the personal goal of quitting cigarettes. After several fights with many loved ones in which I proposed that not only did I have a strong addiction to nicotine I also very much enjoyed smoking cigarettes. I finally convinced myself to not quit but to diminish the number of cigarettes I would smoke in a day. This way I would control my addiction and my addiction wouldn’t control me anymore.
I was able to find a golden mean of nicotine that allowed me to get by with my day without cravings but that also did not cost me too much money nor time. My plan was that once I was able to find Aristotle’s “Golden mean” and control my addiction. It would only take effort to fully quit and exploit the virtue of self-discipline for the first time in my life.
Guess what? I’m doing it!
By quitting cigarettes (even for the time being), I was able to understand myself in a completely different way. I was able to push myself and find the strength of character I have needed in order to grow and improve for the greater being that is my overall health and happiness.
I must confess that my win also relates to other things that I don’t mention for the sake of brevity. I feel that if I’m able to win this battle, that will be a model for other problems that are part of my character.
The idea is that fighting bad habits should be in the same bracket as creating new ones. So far, the purification of my body through the act of not smoking has helped me improve my mind. I’m happier about being a person that was able to draw mental strength to eliminate a vice that impeded me from flourishing.
Before this course I didn’t have these tools. I feel that if I take Aristotle as a model, there is going to be a point in which I will find happiness through being an overall virtuous person. It’s not easy, but it’s worthy!
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