What would Aristotle do?

Years ago, it was a young student who made me aware of something called “Nicomachean Ethics.”  Having grown up in India, and having gone to an engineering college, I found (find?) myself often playing catch up in the world of liberal education in which I feel truly at home.

Anyway, she then briefed me about it in the manner that most young people do when they get excited to teach their favorite topic to an older person.   In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle lays out how men should live.  (I assume that he literally meant "men" given his time period.)

Across the cultures of the world, philosophers and religious leaders have talked and written in plenty about how one ought to live a good life.  The best life.  I am not sure how much of all that talk and writing have gotten translated into everyday life.

Consider tRump's candidacy that led to his presidency.  And the past nearly four years of his rants and insults from the White House.  And the focus on the one question that he simply waffled at the debate--the one about condemning white supremacy.  He did not condemn it, similar to how he did not want to call out the torch-wielding neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville chanting "Jews will not replace us."

So ... Amy Vivian Coney #Barrett is thrilled to be nominated to #SCOTUS by this #POTUS who refuses to condemn #WhiteSupremacy?@VanJones68: https://t.co/UA3OZ8IYU6#Election2020 #Debates2020 #tRump

— Am.Dr.Khe (@congoboy) September 30, 2020

tRump has his voters.  His base.  Would you be friends with his voters?

I have dealt with this question directly with people I know who voted for tRump.  I terminated the friendship when they made it clear that they stand by tRump because, as Jamille Bouie wrote, there is no such thing as a good tRump voter.

That you have black friends or Latino colleagues, that you think yourself to be tolerant and decent, doesn’t change the fact that you voted for racist policy that may affect, change, or harm their lives. And on that score, your frustration at being labeled a racist doesn’t justify or mitigate the moral weight of your political choice.

What do the Nicomachean Ethics suggest that I, or anyone, do in such a situation?

That is exactly what Kwame Appiah addresses in his Ethicist column.  He writes in response to a query from a reader who wonders whether she should continue the friendship with a friend who is racist.

Appiah writes:

“Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in virtue,” Aristotle said in the “Nicomachean Ethics.” That is, and was meant to be, a pretty demanding standard. Given that your friend’s racist views, by contrast to your antiracist views, represent a vice, you are not alike in virtue.

But then nobody's perfect.  So, what do you do?  Tolerate that friend?

Friendship can and should err on the side of tolerance, but big-enough vices — beams rather than motes — can be an obstacle to it. The key point that Aristotle got right is that friendship is a morally freighted relationship; a friend’s character matters to a friendship.

Character matters.  (In choosing the presidential candidates too.)  "Let’s grant that, in Aristotle’s sense, you can’t be the best kind of friend with this woman. Is it worth being any kind of friend at all?" So, what do you do? 

Appiah being a philosopher par excellence, helps us think through and not merely give his bottom-line.  Well, he does give his bottom-line--but only after taking us through the process. He writes:

Still, when it comes to someone who, in this day and age, has remained attached to such views, I am not hopeful. If you withdraw from this friendship, it’s clear you won’t be doing so for a programmatic reason; you’ll be doing so for reasons of the heart. At the same time, what most effectively discourages the expression of backward views isn’t rational argument but social sanction. A loss to you could ultimately be a gain for others.

If my social sanctioning of another discourages people to change their backward views, then terminating friendship is the best thing that I could have done.  I am glad I did that.  But, I don't have any hopes that I am significant enough for them to consider the loss of my friendship as a reason to change their backward views on the human condition.  Further, a scorpion will be a scorpion, as the fable taught us.

It seems like I have done right by the Nicomachean Ethics. Maybe I should contact that former student, who is now a professor, to grade me here!