Aristotle's Argument Essay: Happiness Is The Highest End

Aristotle begins Section 7 by raising a question: what is good? He explains that good varies between different actions and arts, but they share that it is the sake for which things are done: the good of medicine is health, of strategy victory, in every action the end. Ends are goods achievable by action. There are many ends and they are not always pursued for their own sake. Aristotle is seeking the highest (most desirable) end. His criteria are that it must be desirable as an end in itself and not as means to something else, and it must be what makes all goods are desirable. He finds that, since this description applies to happiness, happiness is the highest end. I find this argument to be sound. Happiness is not chosen for the sake of goods like honour and virtue. We pursue goods such as honour and virtue because they, like all other goods, lead to happiness. Aristotle draws the reader to the same conclusion using

He claims that by ascertaining the function of a man can help us understand the nature of happiness. The case for all things that perform functions is that the good resides in the function. For example, a musician’s function is to play music. We can call him good at music if he is exceptional at playing music. He states that the same case follows for man. I find this argument invalid because Aristotle does not provide reasons for the reader to believe that, since other things have functions, so do men. The argument does not follow through because the author did not prove that, like instruments were designed to play music, humans were designed for a specific function. He also assumes that everything requires a purpose, which is a belief that varies between different people. Humans created instruments to perform a specific purpose. The belief that humans have a specific function of purpose requires belief in a higher