Vice- A Short Thought

There is much to say concerning this, but for now – I limit myself. In a part of the Nichomachean ethics Aristotle describes a kind of person, in secondary literature labelled the ‘Principled Vicious Person’. What characterizes this person is that his soul is in harmony but not aligned towards the ‘fine’.

That is to say that he asserts a person who acts viciously, but feels no regret, that his vicious act to him is a noble act, and consequently he is beyond redemption.

It seemed at first to me impossible that such a person exist, but on further contemplation, I think this kind of person more likely than one who is in conflict with themselves. For is it not more likely that people are simply ignorant of the vicious acts they commit than that they choose consciously to be vicious?

But how can this be the case?

Further, is the one who behaves viciously out of the lack of an alternative not more vicious than the one who behaves viciously knowing that they do so?