Philosophical Analysis of Aristotle Many theorists consider Aristotle to be the first person to use the term "ethics" to name the field of study that had already been developed by his predecessors Socrates and Plato. Philosophical ethics attempts to offer a rational answer to questions about how human beings live. Aristotle viewed politics and ethics as two related but very distinct fields of study, because ethics examines the good regarding an individual, while politics involves examining the good of the city-state. Aristotle was very convincing in his discussion of virtue and excellences. For his argument, he considers that virtue is, in the moral sense, the product of habit. Intellectual excellence is likely to derive primarily from teaching. Virtue is therefore the habit of choosing the golden mean that exists between the extremes in relation to a certain form of action or to certain emotions attached to it. In Aristotle's conception, all good rests on a middle goal with the same passions and deliberations. The virtuous person must be a continental person. However, in Kantian ethics, the virtuous person is defined as a person of good will who acts out of duty. Kantian ethics defines a universal standard of behavior for all beings. Human must follow the standard and perform their tasks to achieve goodness according to the standard. Unlike Kantian, Aristotle states that there are many ways a man can use virtue in his life to achieve the highest good. There are different happinesses, but the duty and standards are the same for all things. Thus, Kant's ethical theory is more convincing than Aristotle's ethics. Kant implies that one should treat someone different as a... middle of paper ...... honestly based on a plethora of methods. Kant believed that only through the use of good will can one fulfill the categorical duties that make man good. Although Kant's conception of good will struggled against that of Aristotle, that of the virtuous person, Aristotle was clearly victorious. Such thoughts concerning the highest good were to exclude the need to attach human emotions and reveal man's inherent duty. Although happiness varies, duty always remains constant. Works Cited Kant, Immanuel and James W. Ellington. Basis for the metaphysics of morality. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Pub. Co., 1981. Print. Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism. Raleigh, North Carolina: Alex Catalog, 199. Print. Thomson, JAK and Hugh Tredennick. Aristotle's ethics: Nicomachean ethics. Rev. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976. Print.