Who Is The Best Thing?

Although, as Aristotle believes, everything we do in our life leads to some good, he makes it clear that some goods are subordinate to others, and that the greatest good is happiness. He believes that the knowledge of this good carries weight for our way of life, and makes us better able, like archers who have a target to aim at, to hit the right mark (Aristotle 2). To possess the ability to achieve this ultimate end; however, we must first have some sort of understanding as to what happiness is. The definition of happiness typically varies from person to person, some think it’s pleasure or something found in someone you love, others believe it lies in wealth and success, but Aristotle defines it as

In order to achieve this final, we need to live a virtuous life according to the Golden mean, which is finding the middle grounds of the virtues we live by. Aristotle explains that we should continuously act in accordance with virtues, which are acquired from our upbringing and experiences. Because Aristotle believed in teleology, he said that by aiming our actions toward an end (happiness), our souls need to work in the way of excellence.

We are social creatures. We surround ourselves with other human beings, our friends. It is in our nature. We are constantly trying to broaden the circumference of our circle of friends. Aristotle understood the importance of friendship, books VIII and IX of the Nicomachean Ethics deal solely with this topic. A modern day definition of a friend can be defined as “one joined to another in intimacy and mutual benevolence independently of sexual or family love”. (Oxford English Dictionary). Aristotle’s view on friendship is much broader than this. His arguments are certainly not flawless. In this essay I will outline what Aristotle said about friendship in the Nichomachaen Ethics and highlight possible

“Genuine happiness lies in action that leads to virtue, since this alone provides true value and not just amusement.” (Aristotle)

In Book eight and nine of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses the variations of friendships that are present in human nature. He further goes into detail on the terms and grounds on forming these friendships. I will be analyzing the different types of friendship discussed in Aristotle’s Ethics and answer the difficulties and obstacles present in trying to achieve the perfect friendship, the friendship based on goodness.

Aristotle initializes happiness as being the desirable condition which we ultimately work toward. Virtue, character, and love are three states in our lives that make us human beings.

“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.

Therefore, happiness is the highest act of virtue because it is the only end in every action we preform. A person that preforms an action for the sake of being happy requires many steps to eventually reach the stage of happiness. When there are steps involved to reach happiness, then the action is preformed for the sake of something else and not in itself. Such as a person who wants to eat healthier because their end motive is to be happy. Therefore, the action is not preformed for the sake of just to eat healthy but to reach happiness. However, to become virtuous, a person will preform actions that make them virtuous with a firm and unchangeable character. It is a skill that is made through a habit, Aristotle states, “legislators make the citizens good by preforming habits in them”(NE, P.23), such as preforming acts of bravery. But, a brave person needs to find a balance because being too brave will lead to excess

Aristotle introduced his theory of life and definition of happiness in “Nicomachean Ethics”. He states “Now such a thing happiness, above all else, is held to be for this we choose always all else, is held to be; for this we choose always for itself and never for the sake of something else, but honour, pleasure, reason, and every virtue we choose indeed for themselves, but we choose

Aristotle says that character and virtue in actions are more important than “good” consequences. In this sense, we see that this theory will highlight individual character and having the desires that are the “best” to become the “best” person you can be. The good thing to do is that which produces happiness and the right thing to do is that which a purely virtuous person would do. Virtue is learned through habit and practice, and being happy is always the ultimate characteristic of ethics. His happiness is defined as virtue ethics that bring fulfilled happiness to the individual, and in turn to their community and society.

According to Aristotle’s arguments and views on happiness, it is convincing that people know what happiness is, but when defining the word “happiness”, it depends on the person’s knowledge and virtue or excellence. However, Aristotle’s views on happiness about the goods: honor, pleasure, and intelligence are not sounding, because he says that no one chooses happiness based on honor, pleasure or anything at all, which is invalid. Happiness has a meaning and it happens when someone feels satisfied.

An individual’s virtue ethics does not depend on the society that they live in, the spirituality that they follow, or their culture/upbringing; but they depend exclusively on the individuals themselves. Aristotle introduced moral ethics theory in his Nicomachean Ethics books. The idea of ethics is questioning long term goals, ‘what sort of person do I want to be’ instead of instantaneous decisions that question ‘what should I do in this situation?’ Virtues are not so much to do with right or wrong but rather where that decision is coming from. What is in the heart of the person that answers/acts is what matters in the virtuous world. Instead of concentrating on what is the right thing to do, virtue ethics asks how you can be a better person. According to Aristotle this pursuit of constantly trying to improve one’s self to be a better person is what true happiness is in life, as he underlines in his own definition of happiness: “happiness is a certain activity of the soul in conformity with perfect virtue.” (1) (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Book 1).

How to go about acquiring true happiness has been a debate for as long as man has existed. There are even conflicts over what happiness is, is it attainable, and should everyone have the right to pursue it. For Aristotle, happiness begins with another concept, the ultimate good. Every action inheritably aims “at some good; the good, therefore, has been well defined as that at which all things aim.” (1094a, 378). Aristotle goes on to explain that happiness must then be the ultimate good, since “both the common run of people and cultivated men,” aim to achieve it for itself, even though they call it different names (1095a, 379). Now, with the understanding as to what happiness is the answer to for Aristotle, to further understand happiness, it

According to the philosophy of happiness (14, 15, 16 & 17), Aristotle stated the factors that make happiness as good health, money, relationships and good moral behavior. Aristotle pointed out that happiness was the ultimate desire for human being leaving nothing more to be desired. The happiness is sought for its own sake unlike other things which are sought in order to achieve happiness. Aristotle understood that for an individual to be happy one must be of good morals and can suffer to achieve the greater happiness later in the long run. Many individuals believe that

Aristotle argues that the most important thing in peoples lives is the virtue of happiness. He writes that one attains happiness by living a life of virtue - "our definition is in harmony with those who say that happiness is virtue, or a particular virtue; because an activity in accordance with virtue implies virtue. Indeed, we may go further and assert that anyone who does not delight in fine actions is not even a good man."(Aristotle) A life of virtue implies a life of reasoning for the end goal of doing what is good. Human good is fulfilling and most desirable, therefore human good in life correlates with virtue.