Aristotle 's Ethics Of Happiness

In the work, Nicomachean Ethics, the philosopher Aristotle creates a guideline for those who are serious about pursuing happiness. Aristotle's recommendations for finding happiness are not accepted today without some struggle and careful examination. In Aristotle's time, slaves, women and children were not truly considered human; so in many cases the philosopher is directing his words towards free males only. It is necessary to understand that by overlooking this discrimination and applying it to all people, one can discover the timeless wisdom of Aristotle.

In Book 1 of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he argues that happiness is the best good, and the goal of an individual and of those leading and governing society. Here, happiness is understood as both living well and doing well, rather than the convention sense of happiness as an emotion. According to Aristotle, happiness is achieved though actions involving reason and in accord with virtue, or the best of the virtues of there are more than one. In this paper, I will provide a brief overview of the work and its author, then proceed to provide an overview of the ideas expressed and the argumentation supporting them, before finally performing an analysis and critique of the ideas expressed.

In section 7 of book 1 of the Nicomachean ethics (pp 134 – 135 in our book) Aristotle gives at least one argument for why happiness is the chief good. Summarize Aristotle’s argument in your own words. That is, give me the premises which Aristotle takes to support the claim that happiness is the chief good (If you are reading carefully, you will notice that there seem to be two separate arguments given. You need only summarize one of them). What is Aristotle’s reaction to reaching the conclusion that happiness is the chief good?

Aristotle lists honor, pleasure, and wealth as the things believed to make humans happy. He believed that because honor could be easily taken away it was superficial and that pleasure, although enjoyable, was merely an “animal like quality”. Wealth was described as a vehicle to achieve greater status. The moderation of the three vices could be achieved but would not, in-itself produce or guarantee eudaimonia. Instead, Aristotle was of the opinion that wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice, would better lead person to happiness.

According to Aristotle, intellectual virtues belong in the ‘rational’ fragment of the soul and moral virtues lie in the ‘irrational’ measure of the soul However, they are both dependant on reason. Although Aristotle recognised many virtues, he was an advocate for the notion of the existence of only four cardinal virtues. His proposal proved to be popular in the society that he lived in, being acknowledged by Plato and other bodies. The four cardinal virtues are: courage, a virtue which ensures control in the interest of goodness, temperance, a virtue which diminishes wants and desires by limiting them to reason, justice, the only virtue that consists of expressing care for other beings. A human that possesses the virtue of justice has the ability to practise this virtue on other human beings and not solely on themselves. The final and one of the most important virtues is prudence, a logical virtue of practical reason by which we separate the good and the methods of achieving it. Aristotle accentuates that virtues are pragmatic skills and hence experience guides us towards becoming more dexterous in avoiding deficiency. Although familiarity with the vices as extremes supports us in our aspiration for the mean, the wider connotations of the doctrine is that only through experience will we as humans come to know the right pretences and

Aristotle’s work, The Nicomachean Ethics, consists of numerous books pertaining to Aristotle’s Ethics—the ethics of the good life. The first book discloses Aristotle’s belief on moral philosophy and the correlation between virtue and happiness.

Aristotle makes a number of claims in Book I of Nicomachean Ethics that deal with the idea of Happiness and how to obtain it. His stance can be seen when he makes the claim, “Happiness, on the other hand, no one chooses for the sake of these, nor, in general, for anything other than itself.” Aristotle is stating that the end goal of life is to achieve true happiness. We do not work any further towards something else once we are truly happy. We also see this when he says “Happiness, then, is something final and self-sufficient, and is the end of action.” Aristotle thought that our end goal was happiness. It shows how highly he regarded it. Another idea he brings to light is that happiness cannot be obtained in the short term. Aristotle says, “For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day; and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed or happy.” Here he argues that just as the birds singing doesn’t make a perfect summer, happiness is not true in a temporary or daily setting, only at the end of our lives can we determine true happiness. Aristotle believes that short term goals can be okay, but we need a rational and virtuous life in order to obtain the real idea of happiness.

Aristotle presents a system of virtue ethics in Nicomachean Ethics. This work presents a prescriptive theory with the aim of showing how humans may reach a proper state of happiness in which the natural human end is fulfilled. This end is regarded as an end in itself to which subordinate ends are related. This master end itself is understood as a type of activity rather than a state that can be achieved with a limited series of actions, and this activity is described as a general practice of acting well in accord with reason. The Ethics launches an inquiry into what makes human happiness, or eudaimonia, possible, and

Happiness is what one defines as a set limit of true enjoyment. We all have our own kinds of happiness whether it is in the state of mind or a plan of action. Most of humanity cheerfulness will not match because of their clarity of life but there may be some similar steps to get to the point in which appeal to their form of happiness. Aristotle touched a lot of key concept to the definition of happiness which proves that we all have a different understanding of what is expected as happiness. Aristotle defines happiness as the virtue of good and desirable of people. Aristotle think everything we do in life as humans have a greater purpose. According to Aristotle articles, whether you realize it at the moment or not the things you do have a greater

In the text, Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, but translated and edited by Roger Crisp, a few questions stand out for consideration. “What is happiness?” “What makes me happy and why?” In this text, Aristotle examines the main factors of happiness which consists of gratification, the life of money-making, the life of action, and the philosophical life. He explains what is needed for happiness and what it means to be a truly happy human being. In his definition of

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 is one of the greatest thinkers in the history of western philosophy, and is most notably known for expressing his view of happiness in Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle develops a theory of how to live the good life and reach eudaimonia (happiness). Eudaimonia has been translated into, living a happy and virtuous life. Aristotle’s definition of the good life as the happy life, consist of balancing virtues (arête), the mean, external goods, political science, and voluntary action.

Human desires are unlimited and constantly emerge in us and continually replacing with other desires. Human beings are providentially managed for their own sake and made their own choice. Human wants are seemingly insatiable so man would crave anything that can provide pleasure to itself and this may go on without limit. If this is the case, since human desires are endless, people would lose their abilities to desire eventually and no longer interested in or motivated to do anything. Hence, human beings are in pursuit of the good should be an ultimate end. In most cases, many think honour, pleasure or wealth is the best good because these are the factors that can bring them happiness and so does all other goods. Therefore, Aristotle proposed that the best good is happiness since it ends in itself.

He is honored to be author of ‘The Nicomachean Ethics,’ which was in fact the 1st book ever written on the subject of ethics. The book is greatly influential, even in modern times. By an analysis of Aristotle’s literature, it can be observed that he primarily focused on preaching to be ‘virtuous’ rather than focusing on the theories of what ‘virtue’ is. According to him, in whatever way we choose to act, some action that is focused on achieving the desired end result or ‘good’ results comes from that person’s own perspective. Aristotle claimed that the maximum good which a person have desire to achieve is basically an end-point itself , a person’s action or struggles is for achieving that ‘end-point’, it may be regarded as a point of maximum satisfaction. Aristotle critically concluded that the happiness of a person satisfies these conditions completely, and hence the highest attainable good is regarded as happiness.

Happiness is the fundamental objective of life. This bold statement is unanimously agreed upon among generations of people on every corner of our planet. However, the real question that has been contested for centuries is the true meaning of happiness? The true meaning of happiness is one of the most highly debated philosophy topics in history. Most famous are the writings of Aristotle and John Stuart Mill who both paint very opposing pictures of happiness. Mill believes happiness is obtained through pleasure and the absence of pain. On the other hand, Aristotle insist happiness is obtained through living a fulfilling, virtuous life. This passage will examine Aristotle 's and Mill 's views on happiness as well as give an opinion one which philosophical theory is most convincing.