Compare and Contrast Aristotles Nichomachion Ethics and Upan
The four great revolutions in thought and religion that occurred in the first millennium BCE shaped the subsequent history of the world as the cultural descendents of India, China, the Middle East, and Greece attempted to define the meaning of life and understand humankind's relationship with the cosmos. The philosophical and religious movements of the world's major civilizations contained many common elements as well as significant differences in their attempt to answer the profound questions that arose at this time. The Indian document "Upanishads" and Aristotle's "Nichomachian Ethics" are two such works that show these differences and similarities in thought at this time. When examining "Upanishads" (Fourth Adhyaya, on pp. 14-16) we get a sense of a more spiritual outlook on life and the self; as opposed to Aristotle's "Nichomachian Ethics" where the issues that are discussed are more "this world". The chief concern in India's "Upanishads" is the discovery of spiritual enlightenment and/or Brahman. In order to reach and understand Brahman you have to understand the "self". In Brahman the body is just a shell, something to house your spirit. Through self-discipline and the stopping of your natural desires you may reach Brahman
So if the intermediate is not in the object but in the object relatively to us then virtue should be the intermediate and be praised because virtue is just a state of character. Always striving for something you didn't even know existed could be very hard on someone. The prescription for attaining a higher level of existence for the individual in the "Nichomachian Ethics" is finding the mean. The chief concern of Aristotle in the "Nichomachian Ethics" is finding the purpose of life. They take a situation and analyze and define what it is they want to know about, but they do it in a more "how it relates to the real world" way; whereas the Indians find some spiritual meaning and define the questions that they are seeking answers to and work from there. They do not question it in any way, but they know it is great and something that they work hard to obtain in their lives. It seems as if the "Upanishads" is a type of Bible for the Indians, in that they try to perfect their lives and reach this really high standard of being so as to not let themselves or anyone else down, similar to that of most religions. India's "Upanishads" made life seem like it was this mystical world of being. The Greeks view of the self are set in the atmosphere of "this world", as opposed to that of the Indians, in which their view is based on a more mystical view of the self. By analyzing and discussing in his dialogue, Aristotle is able to come up with some very good examples of ways in which the intermediate is what should be sought after by people in order to find the highest human good. There's a kind of code to go by when one is in search for Brahman, for instance, not desiring anything but Brahman, and if you do desire anything else, you are ignorant.
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