Aristotle Happiness Essay

604 Words3 Pages

“Happiness, on the other hand, no one chooses for the sake of these, nor, in general, for anything other than itself”

Happiness is thought of differently amongst people; but happiness unlike most things is striven for, only for the sake of having it. On the contrary; things like honor and pleasure are pursued in an attempt to achieve the ultimate goal of happiness. Aristotle is picking apart the concept of happiness and directing your eyes to where he sees fit. For people tend to identify happiness with materialistic items, friends, etc.; as he refers to as “worldly goods”, or things regarding: your appearance, children, in addition to having a long life; this of which he refers to as “bodily goods”. Which in no doubt contributes to happiness. Yet in this chapter; he is trying to emphasize the role “goods of the soul” has on a person’s happiness; this is referring to one’s moral virtues. He understands each of the previous goods holds an amount of virtues which play their part in bringing a full life; however, he believes at the end of the day; the goods of the soul play the biggest part in determining whether or not a person will acquire true happiness. Where worldly goods and bodily goods are out of your control; goods of soul are something that are. …show more content…

The type of life one desires depends on their actions. For in order for one to live a good life; one must have good virtues. In turn your life will be the best and most complete. I believe this to be very much