Neuroscience Confirms Aristotle's Treatise on Ethics

Two major books about habit formation and dopamine mediation of pleasure and pain provide scientific confirmation of Aristotle's observations.

Aristotle is thought to have written his famous Nicomachean Ethics towards the end of his life in Athens, sometime between the years 335 BC until his death in 322 BC. Two elements of his treatise strike me as the most important.

• His explication of how good habits are formed and why good habits are the basis of a life well-lived. What initially strikes us as a difficult action becomes easy—and ultimately second nature—with repetition.

• His explication of how pleasure and pain must always be in a state of balance. One is not possible without the other, and he who pursues too much pleasure will, paradoxically, end up suffering great pain. Conversely, he who willingly subjects himself to pain—as the Stoics advised—will find himself less sensitive to pain and more attuned to simple and moderate pleasure.

In recent years, two books have been published that delve into the neuroscience of the transformative power of good habits, as well as the neuroscience of pleasure and pain. The first is The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg. The second is Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, by Anna Lembke. Both books present scientific confirmation of Aristotle’s key observations.

Here is Anna Lembke talking about her findings on the Modern Wisdom podcast.