Regarding Nicomachean Ethics

It is Aristotle's' stance that the goal of every human is happiness, or fulfillment. He comes to this conclusion through what I suppose could be called deductive reasoning. He begins with the observation that every action a person takes is to achieve some good; generally speaking, people do not set out to act against their own interests. He looks into the reasons for this, and finds that people seek knowledge, and honour and that this things hold little value except in relation to other people. He deducts from this that what people are really searching for is excellence, and that the person who achieves excellence is happy, and thus a fulfilled person. It is through reflection and virtue that this excellence is achieved. He comes to this conclusion by observing that, to quote a cliche, "Practice makes perfect". A person striving to be a shipbuilder begins by learning to build ships; a person striving to be a mathematician practices mathematics and logic. Thus, a person striving for excellence performs actions which are excellent, which leads to happiness. Thus, we become virtuous by undertaking actions which are virtuous. It MUST be a conscious action; to merely preform an act because it is convenient or because it is the only course of action or even because it is an unintentional by-product does not constitute as virtue - virtue must b preformed for virtue's sake. As Aristotle puts it, "Our actions are also responsible for our coming to have dispositions of a certain sort." This is a motif that is found throughout Western Literature, that those who act selfishly or in an evil or morally decrepit manner become selfish, evil, or morally decrepit. Thus, an act is virtuous when the act is preformed knowingly, done for the sake of the virtue in itself, and done with a true and powerful will and belief behind the virtue of the action.