GA18:100-101 – arete

On the basis of the preceding, we know that it is a matter of what constitutes the genuine being-possibility. However, concern can be at rest; a human being can even sleep away his existence. It depends upon the genuine manner of being-there, so that the ἔργον   is there for the one who in concern is present in himself, so that the human being is in ἔργον, κατ’ ἐνέργεια  ν [EN1 6, 1098 a 6]. The human being may be defined with respect to genuine living and rising up into concern.

And this κατ’ ἐνέργειαιν admits of a further being-determination. We know that the being of human beings is determined through ἀρετή  , the mode of being in which the τέλος   is possessed—τέλος as the beyond-which-nothing. So, ἐνέργεια is: προστιθεμένης τῆς κατ’ ἀρετήν ὑπεροχῆς [EN1 6, 1098 a 10 sq.], with respect to the fact (ὑπέροχος from ὑπερέχω) that ἔργον is taken in its ownmost being-possibility, namely as fulfilling itself in ἀρετή, as actually there. For example, in the case of the violin player, we distinguish between violin players. A bad one is distinguished from one who is σπουδαῖος, a “serious” κιθαριστής [EN1 6, 1098 a 11 sq.], who has taken his being-possibility seriously, who has genuinely put into work his having what he is at his disposal.

In this way, it appears that the ἔργον of human beings is πρακτικὴ ζωή  . Thus, insofar as the τέλος of human beings does not   lie outside itself but rather in itself as its being-possibility, the ἀνθρώπινον ἀγαθóν is ζωή itself, “living” itself. The ἔργον is living itself, apprehended in the sense of being-in-the-world μετὰ λóγου, in such a way that it is thereby spoken. Thus the ἀνθρώπινον ἀγαθóν is ψυχῆς ἐνέργεια κατ’ ἀρετήν [EN1 6 1098 a 16]. The ψυχή   is determined as constituting the being of living things. This being-in-the-world as ἐνέργεια is a definite possibility of concern, of πρᾶξις  , as put into work; and this setting-into-work as εὖ, taken hold of seriously (σπουδαίου), so that the ultimate being-possibility is grasped in its end.