Since moral perfection for Aristotle means (1) willfully exercising phronesis to understand and acknowledge that orthos logos which in any given situation specifies the conduct most conducive to the achievement of one's own eudaimonia, (2) willfully choosing to act in accordance with the conduct specified by the orthos logos such that one's genuine eudaimonia will best be achieved, and (3) developing both (1) and (2) to the point where one characteristically exercises phronesis and acts in accordance with the orthos logos as a matter of habit--moral perfection being, therefore, to always act in accordance with one's own best interests--the crown of virtues for Aristotle, the final proof of one's own moral perfection, is pride in being egoistic. One is morally perfect to the extent one is perfectly egoistic and vice versa. To take pride in being morally/egoistically perfect is for Aristotle the ultimate moral achievement for man. Jack Wheeler Den Uyl, Douglas J., and Douglas B. Rasmussen, eds. The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1984.
|