Aristotle begins with a simple question: what makes a thing perform its function well? A knife is good when it cuts well; he contends that a human is good when he or she exercises reason well. This is part of our nature and it is what makes us distinctive as humans. Hence, for Aristotle, human excellence is reason-guided activity of the soul in... See more

If appetite, fashion, or—today—an algorithm dictates your ends, the hierarchy collapses into heteronomy (rule by others rather than self-rule).