How does Aristotle go about determining and assessing the function of a human being?
Aristotle believes that when things are fulfilling their function well, they are “good” and achieve the “excellence” proper to the sort of thing they are.
For example, a knife may be either good or bad. It is good if it has the excellence of cutting well, because cutting is the function of a knife.
So, a knife that cuts well is a good knife. This is easy to determine in the case of things (artifacts), but it sounds odd to ask what the function of a human being is.
How does Aristotle go about determining and assessing the function of a human being?
In his “Letter to Menoeceus,” Epicurus argues that death is not bad for the one who dies. What is Epicurus’ argument for that conclusion?
Give his specific reasons for thinking that death is not bad for the one who dies. Set these out as clearly as you can.
Then, when you have done that, try to formulate a criticism of this argument: take up the position of someone who thinks that death can be bad for the one who dies, and try to figure out where (if anywhere) in his argument Epicurus went wrong.
