Highest Good

“What is the highest of all goods achievable in action?” (Aristotle 3). According to Aristotle, all actions aim at some end that forms a hierarchy that has one ultimate end. The highest good is the end which all actions aim. Happiness is this highest good which is living well and doing well. This statement is clear which makes it acceptable for definition by anyone. However, what happiness is makes it for a debatable topic.

Aristotle asserts that the highest good has three qualities: it must be chosen as an end in itself and never for the sake of something else, as well as self-sufficient which lacks nothing. Happiness alone satisfies all these conditions. It is the highest good of a human being. People often reach their conception of the good based on their lives. The three prominent lives include the life of gratification, of political activity, and lastly, of study. For instance, an active human being favors the political life over the life of gratification in pursuit of virtue rather than honor or pleasure. Additionally, the life of a moneymaker is not the good people seek since...