Rolul argumentului funcţiei în etica aristotelică

Many modern commentators think that the way we understand EN I.7, especially the socalled “Function Argument”, determines greatly the Aristotelian perspective over human happiness. But, although starting from the same point, they hold diverging opinions with regard to what this human happiness consist in (the two traditional interpretation of eudaimonia). This paper argues that most commentators have misunderstood the role of the Function Argument within the economy of the Nicomachean Ethics by taking it out of its context and by making it say too much for a preparatory step. Therefore, a special attention is paid to the concept of function (ergon) both in the Aristotelian Ethics and Psychology and the manner the Stagirite builds his case in this section of the 1st Book. The conclusion of the analysis deployed here is that the Function Argument in I.7 cannot be taken to send us to a comprehensive or an intellectualist position.