Allison Murphy

Olfert argues that Aristotle's account of practical reason pays equal deference to the value of truth and to the value of acting well; she further argues that the key to a proper understanding of the relationship between these two values lies in Aristotle's heretofore overlooked notion of practical truth.Practical truth is not the truth of a motivational state, nor is it a truth that is made true by actions, nor is it even a correct assertion about the means to the obtainment of one's desires, though this last view is closest to Olfert's own. Instead, practical truth is "the truth about what is unqualifiedly good relative to a particular person in a particular situation". In context...

In EN IX.9 Aristotle explains the value human beings place on their lives in terms of a special self-directed perception that attends our actualization in perceiving and thinking. I argue that Aristotle understands the perception as one that synoptically grasps life as good and one’s own. I further show Aristotle’s understanding of the nature of this perception is key to his central argument in IX.9: the perception accounts for the good person’s experience both of his individual life and of the life of his friend as choiceworthy.