care about itself, for the most part inexplicitly. This basic phenomenon is hidden in the concept of ἕξις—ἕξις as the having of something, the mode of being in having, the mode of being-positioned in relation to what is had.
2. In ἕξις, being-there will show itself more precisely in its particularity. The being of human beings, human being as being-there is particular, at the moment: ἕξις is a being-composed of being-there, oriented toward the moment.
3. This being-composed, this being-oriented toward the moment, is the sort of possibility that has seized being-there itself on the basis of its particular situation. In an average way and for the most part, being-there stays within the degrees of “more or less,” too much and too little.
4. On the basis of this three-fold basic structure, it is also evident, at the same time, that ἕξις is a basic determination of being-there itself, that the γένεσις of this ἕξις, the manner and mode in which being-there itself comes to a being-composed in relation to itself, can have the opportunity and the type of its cultivation only, again, in being-there itself. Being-there must, for itself, take the opportunity to cultivate this being-composed as a possibility.
α. The γένεσις of ἀρετή
As to the connection between ἕξις and ἀρετή: we will begin with the γένεσις of ἀρετή. We are treating ἕξις only in order to see the πάθη themselves more precisely. Ἀρετή as ἕξις is not a property, not a possession brought to beingthere from without, but is rather a mode of being-there itself. We are encountering once again, as always, the peculiar category of the how. Ἀρετή is a how of being-there, not as a fixed property, but rather as the how of being-there determined by its being, characterized by temporality, by the stretching across time. For this reason, ἀρετή is and comes to be δι’ ἔθους,200 “through habit.” The possibilities of being-composed in relation to various dispositions that are characterized by not being composed or losing my composure are graspable only by way of undergoing various situations involving risk. The opportunity of cultivating this how of being-there itself is called for only by way of not retreating from life’s possibilities and risks. In the manner and mode that we, correspondingly, are present to our being in the full presence of the situation encountered, we grasp ἕξις. Since we make use of possibilities of action and of concern in the manner and mode of finding, first and foremost we appropriate ἕξις, and not the other way around, having it as a possession so as to then make use of it, but rather χρησάμενοι ἔσχομεν.201 This undergoing, taking-opportunities or seeking-out-opportunities, is a process. Since we are with-oneanother, in the process of dealing with human beings, we come to be steady and level-headed. Since we bring ourselves into situations involving risks, we have the possibility of learning courage, of leaving cowardice behind, not in a
200. Eth. Nic. Β 1, 1103 a 25 sq.: διὰ τοῦ ἔθους.
201. Eth. Nic. Β 1, 1103 a 30 sq.