At some point in everyone’s life, they have probably wondered what their purpose is, what they’re meant to do or accomplish during their time on Earth. In his writing, Physics, Aristotle gives four causes that are responsible for that which is by nature, with the final cause, the purpose of a thing, being the considered the chief cause. With this principle in mind, Aristotle ponders what the final causes are for both man and for the state in the Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle applies the doctrine of final causality to his teachings by claiming that the final cause for man is happiness, attainable through virtue, and the telos of the state is to produce and foster virtuous citizens. In Physics, Book II, Aristotle claims that there are four causes that are responsible for that which is by nature. Aristotle describes the first cause as the “material cause,” which he defines as “that out of which a thing comes to be” (4). This cause can be understood, for example, as the …show more content…
I agree that man’s telos is happiness because I believe that happiness and living and doing well are things that everyone seeks in their lives. While I believe that living virtuously should be considered and encouraged within society, I don’t think that it should be the ultimate purpose of the state. I believe that the state’s final cause is order and peace among their people and throughout their lands. I think that it is more important for the state to maintain control of their people and provide a comfortable living environment in which it’s people can be happy. The government implements legislature to keep order within society that can lead to people be encouraged to act virtuously and be happy. Thus, I believe that the telos of man is happiness and the final cause of the state is structure and
Aristotle begins his ethical account by saying that “every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and every choice, is thought to aim for some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim” (line 1094a1). Though some things might produce higher good than others, Aristotle looks for the highest good, which he says we must “desire for its own sake” and our actions are not decided on some other goal beyond this good itself (line 1094a20-25).[1] This highest good is then realized to be happiness (line 1095a16-20).
Aristotle’s theory of natural law, discussed in Niocmachean Ethics, is mainly teleological because he focuses on the end of all our actions, and how they should lean to happiness. He believed that there were four causes to every object in the world including humans. These were the, material cause – out of what the object was composed of, the efficient cause – what is recognized as being part of the object, the formal cause – the purpose, end, goal or aim of the object. For example, the material cause of a spoon would be metal, the efficient cause would be its shape and structure, the formal cause would be a factory and the final cause would be to use for eating. For Aristotle, the final cause was the most important for humans because it focuses...
In Book I of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle states that the ultimate human goal or end is happiness. Aristotle then describes steps required for humans to obtain the ultimate happiness. He also states that activity is an important requirement of happiness. A virtuous person takes pleasure in doing virtuous things. He then goes on to say that living a life of virtue is something pleasurable in itself. The role of virtue to Aristotle is an important one, with out it, it seems humans cannot obtain happiness. Virtue is the connection one has to happiness and how they should obtain it. My goal in this paper is to connect Aristotle’s book of Nicomachean Ethics to my own reasoning of self-ethics. I strongly agree with Aristotle’s goal of happiness and conclude to his idea of virtues, which are virtuous states of character that affect our decision making in life.
The ultimate end is what the masses strive for. Aristotle proposes that this universal good be thoroughly understood before continuing. All actions are to be built upon another in order to achieve this good; an end that is chosen for the sake of itself, we “choose [happiness] for its...
Women in philosophy have always been seen as inferior to men. People had constructed this image of women as being less perfect and through this image, many philosophy were developed. Aristotle provided the first scientific explanation of women’s imperfection. He claimed that women were biologically inferior to men. Aristotle claimed that this was a factual statement, but he though it deserved “a rational scientific justification for this belief,”(Tuana,p.18).
Aristotle believes that before the concept of time there were three kinds of substances, two of them being physical and one being the unmovable. The three substances can be described as one being the “sensible eternal”, the second being the “sensible perishable” and the third substance being the immovable. To further this theory the sensible perishable can be seen as matter, the sensible eternal as potential, and the immovable can be seen as that which is Metaphysical and belongs to another science. According to Aristotle, the immovable is God. It is the immovable that sets the sensible perishable into motion and therefore turns the potential into the actual.
One of Aristotle’s conclusions in the first book of Nicomachean Ethics is that “human good turns out to be the soul’s activity that expresses virtue”(EN 1.7.1098a17). This conclusion can be explicated with Aristotle’s definitions and reasonings concerning good, activity of soul, and excellence through virtue; all with respect to happiness.
Aristotle tries to draw a general understanding of the human good, exploring the causes of human actions, trying to identify the most common ultimate purpose of human actions. Indeed, Aristotelian’s ethics, also investigates through the psychological and the spiritual realms of human beings.
From pursuing pleasure to avoiding pain, life seems to ultimately be about achieving happiness. However, how to define and obtain happiness has and continues to be a widely debated issue. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle gives his view on happiness. Aristotle focuses particularly on how reason, our rational capacity, should help us recognize and pursue what will lead to happiness and the good life.';(Cooley and Powell, 459) He refers to the soul as a part of the human body and what its role is in pursuing true happiness and reaching a desirable end. Aristotle defines good'; as that which everything aims.(Aristotle, 459) Humans have an insatiable need to achieve goodness and eventual happiness. Sometimes the end that people aim for is the activity they perform, and other times the end is something we attempt to achieve by means of that activity. Aristotle claims that there must be some end since everything cannot be means to something else.(Aristotle, 460) In this case, there would be nothing we would try to ultimately achieve and everything would be pointless. An ultimate end exists so that what we aim to achieve is attainable. Some people believe that the highest end is material and obvious (when a person is sick they seek health, and a poor person searches for wealth).
Aristotle’s thoughts on ethics conclude that all humans must have a purpose in life in order to be happy. I believe that some of the basics of his ideas still hold true today. This essay points out some of those ideas.
Rather, Aristotle attempts to tackle some of the most fundamental questions of human experience, and at the crux of this inquiry is his argument for the existence of an unmoved mover. For Aristotle, all things are caused to move by other things, but the unreasonableness of this going on ad infinitum means that there must eventually be an ultimate mover who is himself unmoved. Not only does he put forth this argument successfully, but he also implies why it must hold true for anyone who believes in the ability to find truth through philosophy. Book XII of the Metaphysics opens with a clear statement of its goal in the first line of Chapter One: to explore substances as well as their causes and principles. With this idea in mind, Chapter One delineates the three different kinds of substances: eternal, sensible substances; perishable, sensible substances; and immovable substances.
According to Aristotle, things are seen as taking course and will eventually come to a stop when potential is reached. The entire process of potential to actuality is call causation. Aristotle sees human life as the search for happiness and term happiness as the fulfillment of all potential. We are molded through the decisions we make. I see this as a cycle and the cycle is as follows, causation is from potential to actuality, happiness is a fulfillment of potential and education is to develop, cultivate and exercise each child potential up to adulthood. While reading Aristotle principal of potentiality and the principle of actuality, I am reminded of the time I was looking for a house; a real estate agent took me to a house with the inside burnt out. Nothing was left standing in the house but the four walls. The structure of the house was beautiful. The broker turned to me and said “This house has potential” After examining Aristotle philosophy of reality; I see the prospect or potential of the house as the principle of potentiality and the finish product, if I had chosen to buy and fix up this house, the principle of actuality.
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
According to Aristotelian ethics, the highest goal in life is happiness. This happiness is often misinterpreted though, as most people think of happiness as a physical pleasure or honor, but this is only because they have a flawed view of the good life. Those who tend to share this viewpoint do not understand true happiness because people are generally deficient in virtue. Aristotle has a proactive conception of the good life: happiness waits only for those who go out and seize it. Happiness, according to Aristotle, is also a public affair, not a private one, so with whom we share this happiness with is of great significance. “... every substance not only possess a form; one could say it is also possessed by a form, for it naturally strives to become a perfect specimen of its kind. Every substance seeks to actualize what it is potentially” (Tarnas p.58). Aristotle also says that humans have a telos, an end or purpose, which is our goal to achieve. This telos is based on our distinct human capacity for rational thought. He also argued that the body & mind are inseparable; so when the body dies, the soul also ceases to exist. Aristotle did not believe in animal rights however, as in Politics, he claimed that nature made all an...
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.