For this reason he examines in detail what it means to be a person of good character, to be courageous, honest, generous, and just. Third, that the right thing to do in any given instance is highly situational, that there is no mechanical procedure for calculating what we should do. What courage in combat means will depend upon the number of enemies we face, the stakes of the battle, our own strength, and a number of other factors. Yet, this is not entirely subjective because we must judge these situations according to a rational principle of moderation between two extremes. Fourth, Aristotle believes that without a proper education in morality, we could not even engage ethical reflection.
Many contemporary theorists believe that moral education is in someway secondary to ethical theory.
For Aristotle, rational thought or understanding alone would not be adequate for ethical theory, we must first have individuals who have a sense of moral judgment already in place. This requires an important commitment to thinking about how we would inculcate a sense of moral judgment into individuals early on. I would argue that these features of Aristotle's system are not simply historically interesting but provide us with an excellent approach to the questions of today. As a brief example, we can consider how Aristotle's system might guide us with regard to questions in medical ethics. With Aristotle's approach we would work as assiduously on moral education as we do the biomechanical aspect of medicine and help physicians to develop moral judgement which would allow them to consider the context of a given situation, and render decisions that take account of the individuals' relationship to their larger community.