Abstract

At the start of NE IX.8 Aristotle says that the virtuous man acts for his friend’s sake and neglect his own interests , but only a few paragraphs later says that the virtuous self-lover will also sacrifice money, honors, and even his life, for the sake of his friend, all while he obtains what is most noble—virtuous acts . This leads us to the question: Is this really a sacrifice if the virtuous self-lover is profiting in some way? Is it possible for the virtuous friend to sacrifice her life for her friend’s sake while knowing he is ‘procuring the most noble good’ for himself at the same time? Or more generally, can the virtuous self-loving friend do things for his friend without his own interests in mind? Aristotle’s conception of self-love either a) prohibits the virtuous man for acting for his friends sake , b) does not prohibit the virtuous man from acting for his friend’s sake, or c) enables him to act for his friends sake. I will discuss the following claims in Section III, where I will consider Julia Annas and Richard Krauts’ discussion on the matter