ETHICS

Here, Aristotle raises a thought-provoking question: How can we say that a person becomes just by doing just actions or becomes temperate (self-controlled) by performing temperate actions? It seems like a paradox. If a person is capable of performing just or temperate actions, doesn't that mean they are already just or temperate to begin with? This challenges the idea of how virtue is developed—whether actions create virtue, or if virtue must already exist in some form for those actions to happen.

Aristotle is addressing a potential confusion: Does repeatedly performing just or temperate acts mean that a person already possesses those virtues (justice or temperance), just as someone who follows the rules of grammar or music is already a grammarian or musician? He is raising a question about the relationship between actions and the underlying qualities or character of the person.

In simpler terms: Aristotle is asking if acting virtuous automatically means someone is virtuous, just like playing music according to the rules means someone is a musician. He's setting up a distinction to explore the deeper idea that merely performing actions that seem virtuous doesn't necessarily mean the person actually is virtuous in character. There's more to developing virtue than just ticking off actions that look righteous on the surface.