Aristotle on the possibility of changing the character

Abstract

In Nicomachean Ethics, book 2, Aristotle clearly states that the repeated  practice of virtuous actions leads to the formation of a certain state of character, that is, habituation would work as a second nature due to the fixedness and state it  establishes, what would apparently prevent any character modifications. The problem lies in the fact that several Corpus Aristotelicum passages seem to contradict this statement, allowing a different interpretation from the one that would suggest the idea of habituation as something that works similarly to nature. This article proposes to investigate an eventual interpretation, both in the Ethics and other works in the Corpus Aristotelicum, of the possibility of character change, decadence, or moral reform, as well as its implications on the investigation of determinism and moral responsibility issues.