"The generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of the punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness"
About this Quote
Aristotle is doing something quietly subversive here: he’s demoting the flattering story we like to tell about moral life. Most people, he suggests, don’t behave because they’ve cultivated reverence for the good; they behave because consequences hurt. Virtue isn’t the default setting. It’s an achievement, and for the “generality of men,” it’s an unlikely one.
The line works because it’s both diagnostic and political. Aristotle isn’t merely complaining about human weakness; he’s underwriting a theory of governance and education. If fear is the lever most reliably available, then law, punishment, and shame become the scaffolding that holds society up long enough for better motives to develop. In the Ethics and the Politics, he treats habit as the engine of character: people become just by doing just acts, often before they understand why justice is admirable. Fear functions as the starter motor.
The subtext is a critique of moral romanticism. Reverence implies an inner orientation toward nobility, a kind of ethical taste. Aristotle doubts that this taste is widespread without training. “Foulness” should repel us on its own, but for many it doesn’t; disgust at vice is not innate, it’s cultivated. That’s why the quote has bite even now: it anticipates modern anxieties about deterrence, incentives, and the thin line between genuine ethics and rule-following. It also leaves a challenge hanging in the air: if punishment is doing the work, what happens when the punishments stop, or when no one is watching?
The line works because it’s both diagnostic and political. Aristotle isn’t merely complaining about human weakness; he’s underwriting a theory of governance and education. If fear is the lever most reliably available, then law, punishment, and shame become the scaffolding that holds society up long enough for better motives to develop. In the Ethics and the Politics, he treats habit as the engine of character: people become just by doing just acts, often before they understand why justice is admirable. Fear functions as the starter motor.
The subtext is a critique of moral romanticism. Reverence implies an inner orientation toward nobility, a kind of ethical taste. Aristotle doubts that this taste is widespread without training. “Foulness” should repel us on its own, but for many it doesn’t; disgust at vice is not innate, it’s cultivated. That’s why the quote has bite even now: it anticipates modern anxieties about deterrence, incentives, and the thin line between genuine ethics and rule-following. It also leaves a challenge hanging in the air: if punishment is doing the work, what happens when the punishments stop, or when no one is watching?
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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