Hey /lit/, how does Aristotle reconcile the idea of fate with his Nichomachean Ethics? The Nichomachean Ethics being practical philosophy. I ask because I was reading The Metaphysics of Morals and Kant tells us that to have practical philosophy we must have free will. The Greeks believed in the power of fate, which conflicts with free will. I just don't get how practical philosophy can exist if the fates control our actions, like the Greeks believed.
Aristotle is so boring
>>7687753
Yeah Nichomachean Ethics is boring. I think Poetics is great, though.
>>7687730
If you look at fate as our innate moral programming then it makes more sense. Idk if that's how the Greeks actually saw it that's just the only sensible explanation I can think of.
>>7687730
Or he doesn't believe in the pantheon gods, and so doesn't believe in the traditional fates of his fellow Greeks.
>>7687807
yeah that's true, but from my understanding of fate in the greek world, it's more of a path set out to someone that cannot necessarily be changed. however, i suppose it could be reconciled by saying that certain events are inevitable, but our actions and feelings are not fixed.
Aristotle isn't a fatalist and so he faces no contradiction.
>>7687922
Cool, thanks
>>7687730
Eudemian Ethics talks about this. Some scholars consider it late Aristotle.
>>7687730
Aristotle doesn't talk about fate anywhere. Don't make the mistake of assuming that all Greeks believed the same things.
