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What is aristotle’s conception of “happiness?”
What is aristotle’s conception of “happiness?”
Nicomachean ethics essay
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Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics Throughout Aristotle’s life and career as a philosopher, he modified and formulated many ideas that deal with the psyche and state of the mind and body. One of the most prevalent ideas that he studied was the quest for happiness. He had many theories about it, but most merged to become the Nicomachean Ethics As Socrates also believed, Aristotle thought that the life of the philosopher was the most pleasant and had the potential to bring the most happiness to oneself. Happiness is a state that is interpreted differently by each person. Aristotle describes happiness as a final end meaning that is not chosen as a means to something else. As health is the goodness, or completeness, of a person’s body, happiness is the goodness of a person’s soul. For that reason, one should not seek happiness in itself, but should seek deserving to be happy. This is the same as one not seeking health, but deserving the health by exercising and eating correctly. Aristotle believes that the amount of happiness one experiences is in direct relation to the substance and importance of the daily activities that we perform. The question then is, how is a person supposed to know which activities to partake in? According to Aristotle, we should fill our lives with activities that require the exercise of our reason, or intelligence. Another belief of Aristotle’s is that a person wishing to attain true happiness must first learn how to use his unique gift of intellectual thought to it’s greatest extent. The philosopher is thought to have the most pleasant life because he seeks knowledge only for the sake of knowledge; not to further himself, but only to gain more knowledge. The highest intellectual intelligence is Sophia, or knowledge of the natural world. This formal cause of happiness is valued over the other because the highest sort of activity is knowing the best aspects of the world which comes only through philosophical knowledge. Aristotle believes that the life of contemplation is the most superior way of life for humans. If an activity is not done for its own sake, the activity becomes inferior. Aristotle says, “Those who have knowledge tend to spend their lives more pleasantly than those who seek it.
Humans, throughout recorded history, have searched for a proper way of living which would lead them to ultimate happiness; the Nicomachean Ethics, a compilation of lecture notes on the subject written by Greek philosopher Aristotle, is one of the most celebrated philosophical works dedicated to this study of the way. As he describes it, happiness can only be achieved by acting in conformity with virtues, virtues being established by a particular culture’s ideal person operating at their top capacity. In our current society the duplicity of standards in relation to virtue makes it difficult for anyone to attain. To discover true happiness, man must first discover himself.
According to Kim’s introduction, Aristotle considered ethics to be the “art of living well.” His writings reflected a perpetual quest to gain a better understanding of human character and how it is intertwined with virtues that are the impetus for human happiness. Aristotle has been deemed the writer of the first “systematic treatise” on ethics. He was essentially the first person to approach ethics from a more organized and deeper perspective. The book is divided into to sub-topics, and each human characteristic is examined and dissected without the constraints of a rigorous rule book. His teleological view of human life originates from his Greek background. He strongly supported the theory that there is an end or fulfillment that should be pursued by each individual. His theories are not as prominent in today’s world, but they are still considered the capstone for the discipline of philosophy.
Aristotle insists that our happiness depends on our wants, our desires, using reason to govern our irrational desires. This comes from our inner self, but in order to achieve such state we need to, in essence, act on our political animal that he describes. In book one, Aristotle lays down two provisions that happiness needs to be satisfied. He states happiness must be perfect and that it must be self-sufficient. Not by himself, as he describes as being solitary, but by the means of parents, siblings, spouse,
Simply defined, happiness is the state of being happy. But, what exactly does it mean to “be happy?” Repeatedly, many philosophers and ideologists have proposed ideas about what happiness means and how one attains happiness. In this paper, I will argue that Aristotle’s conception of happiness is driven more in the eye of ethics than John Stuart Mill. First, looking at Mill’s unprincipled version of happiness, I will criticize the imperfections of his definition in relation to ethics. Next, I plan to identify Aristotle’s core values for happiness. According to Aristotle, happiness comes from virtue, whereas Mill believes happiness comes from pleasure and the absence of pain. Ethics are the moral principles that govern a person’s behavior which are driven by virtues - good traits of character. Thus, Aristotle focuses on three things, which I will outline in order to answer the question, “what does it mean to live a good life?” The first of which is the number one good in life is happiness. Secondly, there is a difference between moral virtues and intellectual virtues and lastly, leading a good life is a state of character. Personally and widely accepted, happiness is believed to be a true defining factor on leading a well intentioned, rational, and satisfactory life. However, it is important to note the ways in which one achieves their happiness, through the people and experiences to reach that state of being. In consequence, Aristotle’s focus on happiness presents a more arguable notion of “good character” and “rational.”
Just like Mills, Aristotle thinks that people should be able to choose activities that will bring them happiness. However, their views are also different. Unlike Mills, Aristotle view happiness not only as a feeling but to be happy people should live their life also with virtue.
In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he thoroughly indicated a well-defined direction in order to achieve our true nature to which we seek happiness. For Aristotle, to be human means to be a rational animal who flourishes through reason to achieve the highest human good. To achieve happiness, one must li...
“ The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less, said Greek Philosopher Socrates. Philosophers have said that happiness is about living a good life. Looking at the reading we see different views of what people thought happiness was. We will explore the different characters and stories of a few people like Epicurus, Epictetus, and Socrates. Whether it be through doing what we want to do or doing what we ought to do through happiness or pleasure.
After all, with the help of the mind, we learn the world correctly and most rationally, Aristotle regards mental activity as the most important of all.
Book 1 of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics explores happiness and all the ways in which it can be defined and achieved. He begins by explaining that every action a person performs or any activity she participates in is seeking out some type of “good”. It is in Chapter 2 where he concludes there is a “best good” (Aristotle 1, 1094a20). He later maintains that “the best good is happiness…” (8, 1097b20). Aristotle wants his audience to suppose that “things achievable by action have some end that we wish for because of itself” because he wants them to understand that there are certain actions that lead to this “best good”. If his readers understand how to achieve happiness, then they can lead better lives.
He then goes on to say that living a life of virtue is something pleasurable in itself. The virtuous person takes pleasure in doing virtuous things. The role of virtue is an important one for Aristotle. Without virtue, it seems one cannot obtain happiness. Virtue acts as a linking factor to happiness.
Aristotle makes a conclusion that to be happy, one must have both complete virtue and a complete life (page 12). Pathways to happiness can only be a natural good. A natural good is the result of a human action in which the end result of that action is pursued in its own right (page 7). Happiness is the ultimate goal of human life and virtue is one of the highest achieved goods. To be happy, one must also have a complete life, meaning a life without misery. One can be virtuous and still be unhappy if their life is full of misfortune.
Happiness is the ultimate goal for everyone in life. Aristotle's definition of " happiness is happiness is the activity of the soul in accord with perfect virtue. To become a better person, we must practice virtuous acts regularly. After a while, these acts will become a habit and so the virtuous acts. part of our every day life and the person will be leading a virtuous life.
Aristotle feels we have a rational capacity and the exercising of this capacity is the perfecting of our natures as human beings. For this reason, pleasure alone cannot establish human happiness, for pleasure is what animals seek and human beings have higher capacities than animals. The goal is to express our desires in ways that are appropriate to our natures as rational animals. Aristotle states that the most important factor in the effort to achieve happiness is to have a good moral character, what he calls complete virtue. In order to achieve the life of complete virtue, we need to make the right choices, and this involves keeping our eye on the future, on the ultimate result we want for our lives as a whole. We will not achieve happiness simply by enjoying the pleasures of the moment. We must live righteous and include behaviors in our life that help us do what is right and avoid what is wrong. It is not enough to think about doing the right thing, or even intend to do the right thing, we have to actually do it. Happiness can occupy the place of the chief good for which humanity should aim. To be an ultimate end, an act must be independent of any outside help in satisfying one’s needs and final, that which is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else and it must be
Happiness can be viewed as wealth, honour, pleasure, or virtue. Aristotle believes that wealth is not happiness, because wealth is just an economic value, but can be used to gain some happiness; wealth is a means to further ends. The good life, according to Aristotle, is an end in itself. Similar to wealth, honour is not happiness because honour emphases on the individuals who honour in comparison to the honouree. Honour is external, but happiness is not. It has to do with how people perceive one another; the good life is intrinsic to the...
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, said in his book “Nichomachean Ethics” that "happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the aim and end of human existence." (Aristotle). He means that happiness is a central purpose of human life. It is true when we all wish to be happy. However, when we are asked what happiness is, we cannot define happiness in a general concept because it means something different to each individual person. For example, for one person, happiness is a sense of satisfaction from success in career, whereas for others, it may be a feeling of being loved by other people. Meanwhile, philosophers indicate that happiness has two senses. The first one is psychological sense related to a state of mind (Haybron). The other sense