The pursuit of living a good and moral life has been a longstanding ideal of
philosophy, an ideal that dates back to the writings of Plato and Aristotle. This
ideal establishes that a good life as a happy and flourishing life is pursued by
developing the right motives and the right character. And in order to live this life,
it is held that one must strive to become a virtuous person, who desires the good.2
Finally, one must not pursue the good alone; rather, one should pursue the virtuous
life with others, i.e., friends, because they enhance our ability to think and to act
(Aristotle 1155a).3 That is, our sociability enriches our rational nature.
Tragedy and vulnerability within our human condition, however, can play a
distinctive role in our pursuit of virtuous living.4 At the end of Book I in the
Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses tragic circumstances affecting the
virtuous person and considers whether virtue is still possible. Aristotle recalls the
case of king Priam who has lost everything, and yet, in his actions, remains a figure
of nobility. Aristotle suggests, at numerous times in the Nicomachean Ethics, that
virtue remains whether one’s circumstances are fortunate or unfortunate.
