Similarities Between Solon And Aristotle

From chasing joy to evading misery, it seems as if the ultimate purpose in life is to achieve happiness. However, the question regarding how to define and acquire happiness has continued to be a disputed topic. Beginning back in 350 BC, Aristotle developed and supported his view on human happiness as the fundamental end goal of human life in Nichomachean Ethics. However, others did not universally agree upon Aristotle’s accounts and ideas about happiness. In around 550 BC, Solon preached his own theory on happiness in The Histories, stating that a person’s happiness cannot be determined until death, testing Aristotle’s beliefs. Solon attempts, but fails, to refute Aristotle’s belief that happiness is an eternal, virtuous state, by arguing instead that happiness is subject to change.

In Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, he writes on the principle of the good. Every action or choice that a person makes is aimed at some good, and

Aristotle’s theory of happiness states that happiness, or eudaimonia, is the supreme good (Aristotle 379). Aristotle believes that happiness is a final, independent end chosen as an “end in itself and never for the sake of something else” (383). This is due to the fact that every person aims for something, and every action performed should be done in order to reach this happy and enduring end.
Aristotle strongly correlates the concepts of virtue and happiness. He believes that happiness is an “activity in conformity with excellence or virtue” (384). For a man to be truly happy and to live well, he must live a life of virtue, for this will bring him closer to happiness. Aristotle states that virtue consists of two types, intellectual virtue and moral virtue (391). Intellectual virtue is established through learning, whereas moral virtue is acquired by habit. Virtue is what makes a certain thing perform its function properly; therefore, a man’s virtue is to be good. Aristotle defines virtue as the mean between two extremes, an excess and a deficiency, that oppose each other; although, each person’s specific mean is different (395). It is hard to be virtuous and to obtain this mean, but it is important to avoid the extreme farthest from the mean because it is more in error than the other. It is also important to be aware of what errors and pleasures individuals are susceptible to in order to avoid these natural desires that can hinder a person’s judgments (400). Therefore, it is necessary to lean away from the extreme that is more dangerous and the extreme that an individual is more prone to.
Aristotle claims that a man’s happiness is permanent and stable. No matter how many misfortunes a virtuous man experiences in his lifetime, his nobility will endure with his changing fortune. Aristotle does not deny the fact that unfortunate factors may play a part in determining our happiness; however, if a person is rational and lives an ethical life, he will stay happy regardless. The higher the virtuous actions, the more they are able to withstand. As a result, “the man who is truly good and wise will bear with dignity whatever fortune may bring, and will always act as nobly as circumstances permit” due to the fact that he is so virtuous, nothing major will make it impossible for him to become happy again (388).
An additional activity that Aristotle suggests is the highest human good resulting in a truly happy life is intellectual contemplation. This life of intellectual curiosity helps to cultivate moral character, and the critical questioning of things helps to open a person’s mind further to the world (443). When a person gazes at the world in such a way, he “observe[s] the proper kind of behavior” in which to acquire from someone more virtuous than he (445). Questioning the world requires a person to engage in reason to realize his rational capabilities and virtuous characteristics, leading him to a happy life. Rationality and intellect are crucial functions that distinguish humans from animals. This contemplative and intelligent life, which is eternal and unchanging, also allows an individual to think about the concept of philosophy, bringing him closer to the blessed and divine gods. This infinite and permanent hold on happiness is the main aspect of Aristotle’s account of happiness that Solon opposes.
In Herodotus’ The Histories, Solon, a Greek sage, travels to Sardis and becomes entertained by Croesus, king of Lydia (Herodotus 19).

Croesus is very confident of his own treasures and country, considering himself to be the most blessed and wealthy man, therefore he asks the renowned and knowledgeable Solon if he is the most fortunate man that he has ever encountered (19). Thinking that Solon will tell Croesus that he is the happiest man in the world, Croesus is disappointed when Solon tells him that there have been men happier and more prosperous than he. Solon explains that a man’s success in life comes by chance and will not always last. Croesus’s happiness cannot be judged until after death due to the happenstance of misfortunes. Many “wealthy men are unhappy, while many others who have more modest resources are fortunate,” consequently anything can happen (20-21). Solon then tells Croesus that a person must wait until the end of his life to behold the outcome, however Croesus swiftly dismisses this seemingly ridiculous

idea.