Aristotle and the Doctrine of the Mean Essay

Plato’s moral theory consisted of the concept of the soul and the concept of virtue as function. To Plato, the soul has three parts; reason, spirit, and appetite. The reason we do things is to reach a goal or value, our spirit drives us to accomplish our goal, and our desire for things is our appetite. The three virtues that must be fulfilled to reach the fourth, general virtue are temperance, courage, and wisdom,

Aristotle believes that happiness is an activity “in accord with virtue.” Happiness is in accord with the most excellent virtue. All men agreed that happiness is to “live well”, but Aristotle expands this further into a whole

Aristotle is an ancient Greek philosopher who has played a part in subjects such as mathematics and ethics. As a known student of Plato, Aristotle’s knowledge on various topics immensely affected people’s philosophical views. For Aristotle, his definitions of human happiness and a good life consist of being virtuous all throughout life. Happiness comes from being an overall good person; this is “the best way to lead a life and give it meaning” (Psychology Today). According to Aristotle, happiness is a continuing achievement. “Happiness is more a question of behavior and of habit—of ‘virtue’—than of luck; a person who cultivates such behaviors and habits is able to bear his

Aristotle argues that happiness requires both complete virtue and a complete life. Aristotle says this because

1. According to Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, happiness is known as eudaimonia, and is an Intrinsic Good. For Aristotle, humans reach their supreme goal of eudaimonia through intellectual and moral virtues. When one can habitually and favorably find the mean between extreme actions in any situation, moral virtue is reached. Intellectual virtue is reached through phronesis, or when an individual uses his or her mind to choose a “right” decision. The cultivation of habit is necessary for Aristotle because when choosing the situational mean is deep-rooted inside of an individual, he or she will always be emotionally pleased with doing the right thing. This deep-rooted habit forms its foundation during childhood, via rules and constant guidance from adults. If one choses the mean when he or she would rather act otherwise, choosing the mean is not yet a habit, thus eudemonia has not been reached. Aristotle says that this behavior is essentially pretending; like an actor wearing a mask. It does not matter how long or hard an individual practices the mean of extremes, if one does not find pleasure in doing what is right, the supreme goal has not yet been met.

In this section I will explain Aristotle’s definition of eudaimonia and its relationship to happiness, morality and the virtues. Aristotle defines eudaimonia in the

Albert Camus’ understanding of happiness is explained through his perspective of The Myth of Sisyphus. Towards the end of the story, Sisyphus’ punishment for forsaking the orders of Pluto was to push a large rock up a mountain for all eternity. The Greeks believed this to be the cruelest punishment a mortal could be given. The idea of a meaningless task being done over and over again is what some might call absurd. One might think that happiness is not possible in such circumstances.

The proper function of man is the good of a man with rational elements and conformity with high standards of himself. It is convincing, because in the book harpist was given as an example, one has to put in the effort to perform with excellence to make human beings happy. Human virtue studies the soul with its own aim (irrational and rational element). Virtue is defined as praiseworthy characteristics; gentle and self-controlled. Intellectual virtue requires experience and time, whereas, moral virtue derived by habit, which means that before learning something, one needs to try. That is a valid argument that some men may be a good or worse at something than others, it’s the characteristics of activities. Moral virtue is concerned with emotions

Eudemonia translates as good spirit or happiness. To Aristotle, it meant a life well-lived. He believed that the purpose of life is to become a good person who has good character. He also believed that what makes humans unique is their ability to reason and to exercise their intellect, which is what sets humans apart from everything else. He says there are two ways to achieve eudemonia – in thoughts and in actions. In other words, a person must both have an intellectual understanding of what is right (the thought), and the good character to do the right things (the action). One must be good, not simply know how to be good. You have to know what’s right, and you have to do what’s right. Ultimately, moral virtue is acquired by a combination of knowledge, habits, and self-discipline. A person who does those is the happiest because they are fulfilling their purpose, because they are not only good people, but they are most like Gods. Unfortunately, you will not know whether or not you achieved eudemonia until after ones death.

I will assert that virtue is the happy, magnificent, and content median between the two vices. This type of happiness is our highest objective in life. Moreover, all human activities aim at some end that we consider good. According to Aristotle, virtue is a disposition to behave in the right manner and as a mean between extremes of deficiency and excess, which are called vices. Individuals learn moral virtue primarily through habit and practice. Moreover, Aristotle does not say that we should aim for happiness, but rather that we do aim at happiness. Most individuals think of “happiness” as physical pleasure or honor, but this is because they have an imperfect view of the good life.

Eudaimonia translates to happiness. Many believe that eudaimonia is the best happiness that someone should strive for. “According to eudaimonist virtue ethics, the good life is the eudaimon life, and the virtues are what enable a human being to be eudaimon because the virtues just are those character traits that benefit their possessor in that way, barring bad luck” (Hursthouse & Pettigrove, 2003). Aristotle believes that this virtue is the best to achieve because it is what helps to guide you in the right path to true happiness. Being able to achieve that happiness for you and to be able to show others the way to be able to get that happiness is what his goal

: Aristotle describes eudaimonia as the short way of reaching a final end. He believes that it is not a guarantee that one reaches eudaimonia even if he/she is a virtuous person. Arete plays a vital role in Aristotle’s explanation because in the Nicomachean Ethics he claims that eudaimonia is an end result of actively exhibiting virtue in accordance with reason. He goes on to argue that one must be fully engaged in their work and be obtaining excellence in order for happiness to be present. There are four criterion of eudaimonia: durability, you must be able to take a punch because we cannot lose you easily; finality, it must be an ends to a final end, it cannot be a step towards another means; self-sufficiency, if you have this, you would not be in search for more; and function, it must be an expression on humans doing what we ought to do. He believes that virtue is necessary but not sufficient for eudaimonia. Along with virtue, he makes sure to mention the importance of other goods that contribute to a eudaimonic life. Some of the goods he mentions are friends, money and power

The pursuit of happiness is the reason for our existence (Aristotle, 2004) The Greek word that usually gets translated as "happiness" is eudaimonia, and like most translations from ancient languages, there is a loss of deeper meaning in translation. According to Aristotle happiness (eudaimonia) is the central purpose of human life and a goal in itself (Aristotle, 2004) (Creed, Wardman 1963). Because of this ideology, Aristotle devoted much of his time discussing and explaining this philosophy (Hughes, 2001). Even though he lived on the other side of the world as Mencius, they both came to similar conclusions about happiness – it is the cultivation of virtue (Creed, Wardman 1963). These virtues when studied are more individualistic when compared to Confucian or Buddhist ideology. To Aristotle happiness was not just the not just a result of one facet of life but all facets - mental, spiritual, physical and social (Hardie, 1980). In this way he introduced the idea of that the purpose (telos) of humanity was to pursue happiness (Eudemonia) (Aristotle, 2004) (Creed, Wardman 1963). In this paper I will discuss: what Eudemonia and telos are according to Aristotle and why I agree that the only life worth living is one that pursues his definition of happiness.

We will first look at Aristotle, as we cannot know what eudemonism is not, if one doesn’t know what it is. Essentially it is the belief that virtue and supreme happiness are synonymous. This supreme happiness is what Aristotle called eudemonia, which he considers the highest end; people do not live for things like health for example as that is a subordinate to eudemonia, and is more of a byproduct to living the good life, rather than the good life itself.3 He deems reason as central to living the good life, as it is what he believes sets human beings apart from all other beings. In order to use one’s reason properly he states that one must be virtuous, and if one can do that it will help him reach the goal of eudemonia. This is the basic thought process behind eudemonism.

There are certain truths of the world that cannot be ignored or overlooked. Many philosophers have spent countless years discussing, debating and evaluating such truths. One such influential philosopher is Socrates. Born in Athens in 469 B.C.E, he spent most of his time at the marketplace and other public places engaging in dialogues about truths of life. Among many other things, he discussed virtue and happiness and how closely they are related. According to Socrates, virtue is absolutely necessary for perfect happiness because virtue brings a type of happiness that other things could never bring. In this paper, I will explain the aforementioned idea of Socrates on virtue and happiness and through evidence from Plato's Apology which is