The Ethics Of The Nicomachean Ethics

To begin, one must learn what happiness means to Aristotle. He considers happiness to be simply the name of the good life. This is not to say that the good life produces

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.

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, at an absolute basic sense, aims at the title of this course: the good life. In an age where philosophy and ethics were not largely developed, Aristotle aims to provide a universal standard for human flourishing and happiness, or the good life. His main argument is that all of our actions and goals are aiming towards human flourishment, but that each action falls into a range of virtues, where excess is one extreme and deficiency is the other extreme. The virtue that we all strive for, he states, is in the middle of these. For example, temperance is a universal human virtue, with pleasures and pains as the excess and deficiency. He states that virtues can be developed and learned over time and through practice,

According to Nicomachean Ethics, Arisotle aims to identify the highest good for human beings. While most people believe the highest good is the accumulation of material worth, pursuit of honor or satisfaction of bodily pleasure, he argues all of these are deficient of the highest good in some way. Individuals who commit insider trading would likely value material wealth above all else, even up to the extent of risking their entire career for it. However, material wealth is always acquired for the purpose of attaining something else, and thus falls short for Aristotle’s perceived highest good. Instead, he argues that the good life for a human being would focus on contemplation and learning, or acquiring the intellectual virtues. Aristotle associates the intellectual virtues with what we might understand today as scientific knowledge. But just obtaining the intellectual virtues is not enough, and we can see what type of individuals may result from this limited mindset after reading previous cases of insider trading starring talented businessmen who suddenly take a greedy, wrong turn into corruption. Aristotle claims that in addition to possessing intellectual virtues, the person who lives a good life also acts rightly and develops the appropriate state of character

Happiness? Is happiness the best good? In book 1 chapter 7 Aristotle brings up the topic happiness and is it the best good for humans. He says “But presumably the remark that the best good is happiness is apparently something [generally] agreed, and we still need a clearer statement of what the best good is. Perhaps, then, we shall find this if we first grasp the function of a human being” (1097b22-25 Aristotle). That statement is saying the main function of Humans is to look for happiness. Aristotle thinks happiness is to broad of an assumption and that there are several types of happiness that branch off of happiness its self.

“Happiness, then, is found to be something perfect and self-sufficient, being the end to which our actions are directed” (Page 15, 1097b, lines 20-2). Aristotle states that when one finds whatever makes them happy, not just happy for the moment but truly and permanently happy, that that is the day they have nothing left to seek in life. He says once one finds that happiness, one must pursue their endings for their own sake. “It is complete virtue in the fullest sense, because it is the active exercise of complete virtue; and it is complete because its possessor can exercise it in relation to another person, and not only by himself” (Page 115, 1129b, lines 30-3). Here Aristotle talks about how justice is also a virtue of man, and that it should be pursued which will lead to the journey of living an ideal life.

The definition of happiness has long been disputed. According to Aristotle, happiness is the highest good and the ultimate end goal—for it is self-reliant. This idea contradicted other common beliefs and philosophical theories. Aristotle opens his work by describing the various theories, neutrally examines each idea, and discloses how he thinks the theory is wrong and why his idea of happiness is more accurate.

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

From the beginning of their evolution, human beings have been searching for the meaning of happiness. While many may see this to be an inconsequential question, others have devoted entire lives to the search for happiness. One such person who devoted a great deal of thought to the question of man's happiness was the famous ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle. In his book The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discussed the meaning of happiness and what it meant to live a good life. He asserted that the devise which has been invented to create what is good for man is called "politics;" and it "uses the rest of the sciences"¦so that this end must be the good for man." (Aristotle, I, ii) Aristotle also identified four general means by which people live their lives in order to gain happiness, but stated that only one was a means by which a person could actually attain it. According to Aristotle, it was not political power, wealth, or worldly pleasures by which a person could achieve real happiness, it was living a contemplative life.

Aristotle begins his exploration into the most outstanding life by attempting to figure what the highest possible good achievable is for human beings. He comes to the conclusion that most people will agree that happiness is the most sought after good. Happiness is self-sufficient and is the complete end of things pursued. However, they cannot seem to agree how to achieve happiness and what happiness is. In order to figure out what happiness is, Aristotle must evaluate the true function of human beings. This true function, as seen by Aristotle, is the key to achieving happiness. Aristotle describes happiness by saying:

In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle define happiness as the ‘highest good’. Aristotle states that everyone agrees that this highest good is happiness, but often disagree about what happiness really is. Many would believe that happiness is gained from material possessions, wealth or high social status, but Aristotle states that this is not the highest good. Aristotle believed that to obtain happiness, we must have virtue. Virtue is defined as a state of being and acting in the correct manner with high moral standards, neither acting in

Now we move on to a more pressing question: how do you attain happiness? Aristotle holds that “perhaps we shall find the best good (happiness) if we first find the function of a human being” (1.7.1097b24). He explains that as trades-people have functions so must human beings have function. This function must also set humans apart form the vegetable and animal kingdoms in order to be a truly human function. “The remaining possibility, then, is some sort of life or action of the [part of the soul] that has reason”(1.7.1098a3).

Who is Aristotle one may ask? Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who dates back to the year 384 BC. Aristotle was a philosopher who studied numerous subjects and ideas ranging from geology, epistemology, biology, and of course happiness (Aristotle, 2009). Aristotle has a very unique view on happiness that is still looked at the same today, as it was when he first came up with it. Aristotle states that one does not simply become happy after doing a small task or playing with friend for the day. He states that one does not just become happy, but they strive for happiness throughout their entire lives and then have finally achieved it once they have passed (Aristotle, 2009). The main reasoning behind this is that one cannot always be happy by doing one thing, but they must do a number of things in order to strive and reach for that certain level of happiness. For instance, while doing research I came across a great analogy that I thought summed up Aristotle’s view perfectly. The article stated that we cannot claim children are truly happy, any more than we can say an acorn in a tree (Cohen, 2008). That being said, there is so much more to happiness then some think. Sure we may seem happy after hanging out with friends for one day, but there is simply just so much more beyond that when talking about happiness in our lives. Happiness is

Aristotle, one of the greatest philosophers of all time created an idea that happiness is the ultimate end goal. This world renowned philosopher argues that exercising a fulfilling life will lead to happiness. Likewise, happiness is said to be the ultimate end goal of all activities in life. Basically, Aristotle portrays every activity as a subordinate to becoming happy. He argues that being self sufficient, and leading a fulfilling life will create happiness through virtue. A virtuous person is noble and possess the ability to rationalize. In order to be noble one must posses the ability to create equilibrium of the soul. That is, staying within the mean. Similar to the mean, Aristotle depicts

When we first started learning about Aristotles’ theory, I did not understand the importance. Aristotle wrote, Nicomachean Ethics many years ago. It did not seem like any of it would pertain to my life. After reading into his theory, I found it to be quite interesting. It was a lot more relatable than I originally thought. When we know what we are looking for, we can find aspects of his theory everywhere.