Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
Plato's view of happiness
Plato's view of happiness
Aristotle's idea on happiness
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Plato's view of happiness
Plato's view of happiness
Aristotle's idea on happiness
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he outlines the different scenarios in which one is responsible for her actions. There is, however, a possible objection which raises the possibility that nobody is responsible for their actions. Are we responsible for some of our actions after all? If so, under what circumstances?
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics begins by exploring ‘the good’. Book I argues that, unlike other goods, “happiness appears to be something complete and self-sufficient, and is, therefore, the end of actions” (10:1097b20-21). In other words, happiness is the ultimate good. But how does one achieve happiness? Aristotle formulates this in the context of work, since for all things, from artists to horses, “the good and the doing it well seem to be in the work” (10:1097b27-28).
In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book ll, he explains that virtue is a habit of right action, formed by acting rightly (Nicomachean Ethics, p. 71). What he means by this is that everyone has the chance to act virtuously, but we must for work at doing what is right. Aristotle thought we should be virtuous because if we live virtuously than we will have a better life over
In Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotelian virtue is described as a purposeful disposition that lies in a middle and is motivated by the correct reason. Virtue is a steadfast attitude. It has a purposeful disposition as well. A moral person makes a conscious decision to act morally for their own sake. According to Aristotle, the most significant virtue is prudential knowledge.
One of the main ideas in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics was that human beings capable of reason. This is what sets us apart from other species, our intellect ability. In the book, they make multiple claims that every single human being has the ability to be rational and use reasonable, while in “Feminists Ethics” claim that women are more caring and gentle and make emotional based decisions, simply because of their nature. Aristotle says that using emotion to guide decisions would lead to immoral actions and that we should use reason and wisdom to make out decisions, as our feelings and thoughts will always change, but reason does not. In virtue ethics, they claim that human beings are wired to be reasonable.
In “Nichomachean Ethics”, Aristotle Investigates the activities that are worthy of being pursued, because they inadvertently bring happiness to our lives, which is the ultimate good that we seek. Aristotle narrowed the pursuits of men down to two distinct classes, the Art and the inquiry. These two terms are more relatable if we consider Art to be those activities that naturally propel or push us to do something, as well as a field of study such as medicine. The inquiry, on the other hand, is more of a tool that we use to answer questions that we might have. For instance, science, in general, is an investigative tool that we used to strengthen our beliefs by providing irrefutable evidence.
Although all three philosophers have an astounding take on life I felt more like I found myself resounding with aristotle- especially when it came to his take on ethics. Aristotle did not believe in the existence of inherently bad behaviors, but rather than putting emphasis on the end choices you make. A behavior cannot be either good or evil, but a person can have good or bad character traits. Aristotle said that all people are composed of a combination of vice (bad character traits) and virtue (good character traits). He uses this concept to explain the thesis: Virtue is a disposition concerned with choice.
The aim of Nicomachean Ethics is to determine what the good is which leads to the discussion of Eudaimonia and virtue. Aristotle’s opening sentence establishes that all actions aim at some good (1999, p. 3) so therefore good must be that which all people aim for. MacIntyre interprets that, “Good is defined at the outset in terms of the goal, purpose, or aim to which something or somebody moves. To call something good is to say that it is under certain conditions sought or aimed at.
In “Ethical Virtue,” Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle demonstrates, and elaborates on the virtues of intellect and ethics, in order to fulfill happiness. The difference between the both, is that intellectual virtue grows from teachings and experience throughout time, and ethical virtue come from habits (493). “Thus the kinds of habits we form from early childhood are of no small importance; they matter a great deal - indeed, they make all the difference…” (494). In other words, one must exercise what they acquire, or learn, so by doing just things one becomes just. Furthermore, if one wishes to achieve happiness, they must aim at what is intermediate, meaning that virtue is a mean.
Aristotle has four main components of virtue which are doing something knowingly, something that one must choose, the choice made needs to be made for the right reason, and a stable condition is needed. Making a choice knowingly has a huge effect on whether something is being done for the right reasons. Aristotle wrote, “And a person lacking self control acts while desiring something not choosing it while a person with
Human rights rest upon two main principles: moral universalism and the belief in existence of a truly universal moral community that includes all human beings. The origins of moral universalism within Europe are accredited to the early philosophers Aristotle and the Stoics. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle came up with the argument in support of the existence of what we call a natural moral order. This natural order is said to be the basis for all truly rational systems of justice that provides a set of comprehensive and acclaimed universal criteria that is said to be capable enough to evaluate the legitimacy of the 'man-made' systems. Aristotle distinguishes between the ‘natural justice' and 'legal justice’ in the following words: “the
He states that we can see people who pursue pleasure, honor and wealth, but none of these pursuits can be considered a the ultimate good or end goal, for which human beings should strive towards. Aristotle attempts to discover this human good, or that which
But how does one really define happiness? Is it as simple as a chemical reaction from the brain? Maybe it is something deeper outside of our understanding. Some people spend their entire lives looking for the true meaning of happiness. Building large businesses and acquiring large sums of money.
Many of us probably do not need a formal definition to define what happiness means. Often times we are aware of happiness when we experience it and generally use the term to describe various positive emotions including joy, pride, contentment, and gratitude. However, to understand the causes and effects of happiness we first need to define it. According to Webster's Online Dictionary, happiness is defined as “The state of well-being and contentment: joy.” Many researchers often refer to happiness as the “subjective well-being” of an individual which they measure by surveying people about how satisfied they feel with their own lives.
Aristotle in his best-known work Nicomachean Ethics, discusses many fundamental things like happiness, friendship, pleasure, justice, human good. He gives us an image of the good (and even best) life and tells how to achieve it, he shows us the difference between false and true happiness, explains how friendship works and why we need to seek for the impossible. After two millenniums his works are still extremely popular and fundamental to every philosopher or anyone interested in this discipline. Like Socrates and Plato, Aristotle chooses virtues to be his main objects of discussion.