Why Aristotle Recognizes That Actions Are Not Pointless

Aristotle's Argument for People's Actions Aristotle argues things people do aims at some end or end. The highest end to all of these things is attaining happiness. I maintain that it is impossible for a human being to be happy according to Aristotle's definition due to the fact that he sets strict conditions of perfect virtue thus happiness.

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,

Aristotle defines the function of a human being as an activity of the rational soul. He argues that most functions of humans, such as being alive or having sense perception, are shared with plants and animals and cannot be distinct functions of human beings. The only remaining possibility which is not shared with things other than human beings, according to Aristotle, is the part of the soul that has reason. Human function, therefore, is an “activity of the soul in accord with reason or requiring reason.” But further qualification must be made when referring to the something’s function in the context of a greatest good; in this case, it is not sufficient for something to simply function, it must also function well. For example, the function of a pianist is to play the piano, but the function of a good pianist is to play a piano well. According to Aristotle, adding a function’s best virtue to it will work without qualification to make something excellent in every case. So, the function of a human being is an activity of the rational soul and the greatest good for a human is activity of the rational soul in accordance with its virtue.

To find out what the function of a human being is, Aristotle looks at what is distinctive about humans. He discovers that the good of the human is to act in accord with reason well, which can translate into acting in accord with virtue. One cannot have happiness without virtue, just as it is impossible to be virtuous with the absence of rational thinking. Because man is a rational creature, rather than plants which are vegetative, happiness for man must include the excellent functioning of the rational faculties.

“Happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue, which some can attain, while others have little or none of it...” (Aristotle) . The relationship between virtue and happiness have an close and personal relationship . Virtue is necessary for eudaimonia but it is not sufficient for eudaimonia . Aristotle believes that virtue is most important to eudaimonia , because eudaimonia involves activity which is exhibiting excellence or virtue . Eudaimonia will be gained when something is developed properly . To exhibit something well one must do it with excellence ; therefore eudaimonia is dependent on virtue . In order to live a happy life a person must be virtuous , and in order to be virtuous someone must act in the right way and live by the right sort of reasons . For

The good life defined by Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics is a feasible goal that all humans should be able to aim for but restrictions make it impossible for all citizens of ancient Greece to achieve it which foreshadows the gender and racial stereotypes that can be seen in our culture today. Aristotle questions this claim by having an inner debate with himself in the process, he creates many theories, but he clarifies what he determines to be the good life by saying, ”Our present discussion does not aim, as our others do, at study; for the purpose of our examination is not to know what virtue is but to become good, since otherwise the inquiry would be of no benefit to us.”(1103b25 ff) It is a misconception that Eudaimonia means happiness

Aristotle’s idea of Virtue Ethics was influenced by his belief that all things and all humans have a purpose (a telos). For him a complete explanation of something has to include its final cause or purpose which essentially is to realise its potential. Virtue Ethics itself is concerned with the characteristics of a person rather than how a person behaves and it is this he outlined in his book Nicomachean Ethics. A ‘’virtue’’ are qualities that lead to a good life e.g. courage and honesty. Aristotle explains for a person to adopt these qualities into their own lives is to maximise their potential to achieve a happy life and he goes

Furthermore, Aristotle believes when the virtuous person does an action only through the sake of it self there is no other means to the end and one will eventually become virtuous. However, when the action is preformed for the sake of something else, then a person will not reach the highest form of virtue. The reason for this is when the action that is preformed for the sake of something else, then it will not reach complete happiness because it will always desire more.

Similar to Plato’s theory, Aristotle believed that each class of citizens have a different role to play in helping the community. While, each class of citizens has a different role, all citizens share the highest good of happiness. There are three ways of life to reach happiness: life of pleasure, the political life, and the contemplative life. In Aristotle’s view the function of an object is important in deciding the good of it. He states, “[The] function of man is an activity of soul...if this is the case, and we state the function of man to be a certain kind of life and this to be an activity or actions of the soul implying a rational principle, and the function of a good man to be the good and noble performance of these” (I.7). In Aristotle’s ethical theory, the key to man is man’s rational principle. Aristotle believes that the function of man is to exercise reason with virtue, which is different from Plato who believes that the function of man is to keep their soul virtuous. Aristotle raises reason as the distinct feature of mankind. Plato viewed the soul as the distinct feature of man. For Aristotle, there are two virtues: intellectual and moral. He believed that the aim of ethics is not “in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good” (II.2).

In Aristotle’s Book II of Nicomachean Ethics, he states that virtue of character is how someone gets to the ultimate end, which is happiness. Aristotle states that, without a goal or ultimate end (happiness), life does not have a purpose. Therefore every action in a person’s life has to be

Aristotle and John Stuart Mill on Happiness and Morality In this paper I will argue that Aristotle’s conception of eudaimonia disproves Mill’s utilitarian view that pleasure is the “greatest good.” The purpose of this paper is to contrast Aristotle’s and Mills views on the value of happiness and its

In the book Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle, one of the most important figures in the philosophical world, makes a claim about the “chief good” (Aristotle 4). In order to inform the reader of what life the “chief good” resides in, Aristotle first attempts to describe why the “chief good” is not found in certain lives. Throughout chapter five Aristotle claims that the “chief good” cannot be attained in the lives of enjoyment, honor, and wealth. This is evident through the consistent examples of he uses throughout the text. One the “chief good” cannot be equal to those lives. Although a virtuous life does attain the “chief good”.

Aristotle argues that individuals seek Eudaimonia, which means happiness. Happiness has intrinsic value being that in itself it is good and is not a mere means to achieve a set goal. Shafer-Landau writes on how Aristotle believes that a good life is one in which an individual has made wise

To Aristotle leading a good life, for the most part, means fulfilling one’s purpose in a way that is good by balancing life’s pleasures. In order to determine if an object fulfills its function in a good way, we must first consider the object. If we were to agree that a car should be reliable, then we could also agree that reliable car should be considered a good car. Similarly, animals, for example, possess certain traits like the power of locomotion, and the desire to seek nourishment and reproduce. According to

In his work, Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle divulges into a philosophical inquiry into the nature of the good life for a human being. Through living with the mean state and with moral virtue, the disposition to behave in the right manner and as a mean between extremes of deficiency and excess,