Aristotle believed that happiness is the end (telos) that encircles the completeness of one’s entire life. Happiness is not something we attain and lose within hours. Human being’s lifetime cannot be concluded to have been happy or lived well until he is dead or everything is over, which could be related to education. We cannot conclude that a student would have an A at the beginning or at the middle of the semester, anything could happen at the middle of the semester which could set a large or a small drawback for the student. The student’s final exam will determine his/her final grade. According to Aristotle, “Happiness is an exercise of the vital faculties in accordance with perfect virtue (Arête) or excellence.” In achieving happiness …show more content…
Doing things we are supposed to do without been enforced on us by anybody which defines part of our virtuous life, for example our moral virtue is doing what is good in regard to pleasure and pain. Nothing comes easy, to be happy and virtuous there pleasures and pains attached to it which as effects on individuals at different levels and this could either make us increase our morality or withdraw from our morality. Been happy is attaining everything we consider to make us happy without forgetting morality and what we “ought to do” in whatever situation we find …show more content…
She was a women of great faith and was raised in a Catholic Church and community which she passed down. I didn’t really understand her as a kid until I really experienced life then I understood her teachings and trainings. She took religion serious and she made sure everyone of us participated in church. Today I’m thankful because my morals and ethics were built up by her because I followed her steps. My grandma had most of what the “masses” think gives happiness. Her religious life helped her to gain a lifetime virtue and to understand morality. Money was not really a problem for her. I believe poverty could make one lose ethical values. Some people steal because they have no money and stealing is bad, what is bad is bad but in such case they have no choice. She really believed in helping people, even when she can’t afford what someone asked of, she gets herself in debt just to help. My grandma’s town is known to take education really serious and they go to any extent to help sending each other’s kids to school, which became part of my grandma and I respected her a lot for that. She loved and cared for other children like they were her
For Aristotle, happiness is defined as “an activity of soul in accordance with complete excellence... (Aristotle 1102a). This means that actions exercised through, and guided by, human virtues turns out to be a good that is an “... activity of soul in conformity to excellence...” (Aristotle 1098b). Therefore, the characteristic allowing a person to perform well is virtue. To further explain this concept you can use the example of
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.
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.”
In a sense, it is a relationship between seeming versus being. Seeming versus being where a virtuous act may seem to be virtuous when it in reality is not. Whereas, a virtuous character actually is virtuous and as a result, actions done by one virtuous character result in those actions being considered virtuous. An act is not considered virtuous unless it is done by a virtuous person.... ...
To start, according to Aristotle, the end of every action aims at a good (1094a1-10). He goes on to say that the highest good is the most complete, that it is good in itself and is not chosen to gain something else. Aristotle believes that the highest good that every action aims for is happiness, because it is self-sufficient (1097b1-10). For example, why does a person want a high paying job? So they can earn money. Why does a person want money? So they can get things. Why does a person want to get things? So they can become happy, or believe that it would give them happiness. Aristotle comes to this conclusion by taking into account the opinions of people, realizing that almost everyone is trying to obtain happiness (1095a10-20). In addition, Aristotle believes the means for achieving happiness are through the excellence of one's being. The term Aristotle uses here is aretê, or virtue. Essentially, virtue is the excellence of something, in this case moral action (1095b20-30). Virtue leads to happiness because it "seems to be more durable even than the kinds of knowledge" (1100b10-20). Earlier, Aristotle came to the conclusion that happiness is something that is not changed easily. If ...
Happiness is a goal every human pursues, yet the ways in which it is pursued differs amongst people. Some believe prosperity will bring them happiness. Others believe material, power, fame, success, or love will bring them happiness. No matter what one believes is the right way to conquer this goal, every person will take their own unique path in an attempt to find it. But what is happiness? Happiness is often viewed as a subjective state of mind in which one may say they are happy when they are on vacation with friends, spending time with their family, or having a cold beer on the weekend while basking in the sun. However, Aristotle and the Stoics define happiness much differently. In Aristotle’s
Happiness, to Aristotle, is a term for which much exactitude must be made. He understands that, "Happiness both the refined and the few call it, but about the nature of this Happiness, men dispute." As such, he goes to great lengths to attain a fairly accurate accounting of what he sees as Happiness. He begins by illustrating that Happiness is an End, establishes what he finds the work of Man to be, sets conditions on being happy, and then explains where in Man the cultivation of Happiness is to be sought. The result of all these ideas is his fully developed sense of Happiness, an understanding vital to his conception of Ethics.
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
Aristotle was said to be the most memorable philosopher in Roman Times. Being in a part of the lower-class, he had more opportunities than the people in his same social class. With these opportunities, Aristotle took full advantage of them and built a life for himself. Throughout his lifetime, he accomplished many things. Aristotle’s findings have proven throughout the many years they have been useful. 1
It has more to do with character and the nature of what it is to be. human, than with the rights and wrongs of our actions. Instead of concentrating on what is the right thing to do, virtue ethics asks how. you can be a better person. Aristotle says that those who do lead a virtuous life, are very happy and have a sense of well-being.
The pursuit for happiness has been a quest for man throughout the ages. In his ethics, Aristotle argues that happiness is the only thing that the rational man desires for its own sake, thus, making it good and natural. Although he lists three types of life for man, enjoyment, statesman, and contemplative, it is the philosopher whom is happiest of all due to his understanding and appreciation of reason. Aristotle’s version of happiness is not perceived to include wealth, honor, or trivial
Aristotle made contributions to logic, physics, biology, medicine, and agriculture. He redesigned most, if not all, areas of knowledge he studied. Later in life he became the “Father of logic” and was the first to develop a formalized way of reasoning. Aristotle was a greek philosopher who founded formal logic, pioneered zoology, founded his own school, and classified the various branches of philosophy.
He stated that “happiness is a life of virtuous activity in accordance with reason”. (Aristotle). The importance of this quote is happiness can neither be gained or lose in a few hours. It is a value of your life measuring up to your full potential as a human being. Aristotle reveals that you should not announce your happiness has been lived until your life has come to an end. It does not just take one day to fulfil happiness it takes time. The secret to achieving most of your happiness is having a good personality. Developing a good personality will require strong effort, you have to wat happiness for all the right reasons. For instance, being addicted to drugs. This is top issue in the world today that is often mistaken as a pain reliever and a way of happiness, but once it’s out of the system everything comes back. We cannot try to substitute real happiness for the knock off brand. Happiness comes from within and help from family. Friends, and
Society has identified happiness to be a necessity that consist of wealth and pleasure and materials in order to feel satisfied. Therefore, people feel satisfied with the materials that they obtain and can become dissatisfied with their self. The good life focuses on obtaining intellectual virtues and the fundamental truths. Also, to live a good life they must obtain character virtues For example, a person must become virtuous by improving their character and obtaining reason. Also, the person must know the difference between good and bad actions. To be happy we must acquire the excellence of character and the mean between excess and
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...