Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics

Nichomachean Ethics In the book Nichomachean Ethics by Aristotle, Aristotle tries explain to us what the ultimate goal of the human life. He says that every activity we participate in has and ultimate goal or an end. He states that happiness is the ultimate goal in life and that every activity we engage in our daily lives is to achieve happiness. Since all activities we engage in have an end then he says that happiness is the highest of all ends. So as human beings the goal of life is to achieve the highest of all ends. Happiness is the highest end because it is sought after for itself and is not used as a means to something else. And since happiness is not used to reach something else it is considered the highest of all goods. Some

A virtuous man is one who has been trained since childhood, a person who is rational and can control their impulses. A good person will always behave in a virtuous manner. Aristotle mentions two types of virtues, on relating to wisdom and one relating to character. Virtues of wisdom come by through teachings. These are things that can be learned through study. Virtues of character are virtues that must be learned through habit. These virtues will be learned through habituation and will at some point be like second nature. Speaking of nature, Aristotle doesn’t think that virtues are a natural part of the human condition. Both these virtues have to be learned. A person cannot be born virtuous because you couldn’t habituate them to do something else. Since a person can be habituated, than a person can be habituated to be a good person, a person with good

He himself is a man who has theoretical wisdom and says that that is the ultimate happiness. Everything else like money, honor and pleasures are only means to being able to engage in theoretical wisdom. A man with no money does not have the comfort of just sitting and think. A man with no money needs to go out and make a living. He needs to feed himself and his family and does not have the luxury to sit around and theorize. A man who only seeks honor needs to always be dependent on those people who will give him the honor. And according to Aristotle happiness is self-sufficient. With other carnal pleasures they too depend on someone or something else, when the thing that’s giving you the pleasure is gone so is your happiness. He believes that theoretical wisdom is the ultimate happiness because it fulfils the requirements of self-sufficiency. Theoretical wisdom is they type of knowledge that does not really change. It is the wisdom that will tell you how and why things work. This type of wisdom includes science. Science is something that really doesn’t change and its universal. Having theoretical wisdom is something that can never be taken from