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Aristotle's The Life Of Frederick: Aristotle Vs Stoicism

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The life of Frederick: Aristotle vs. Stoicism
In theory we all strive to have the same form of life that Frederick had. A nice house, car, and a family. The strive for excellence is a key trait in what makes us human. We want to be good at everything and according to Aristotle's views on what true happiness you must have three characteristics that would classify you as excellence:Physical, Intellectual, and Moral. Aristotle does not have a true ideal of happiness. However, excellence in life is a state of being happy most of the time. Therefore if we strive to be excellent, happiness should follow. Aristotle also has ideals about balance. To not over do things and to keep ideals in check. Frederick focused too much on being successful and …show more content…

By becoming virtuous and rational,you are able to control everything important in your life and take hold of your happiness.Frederick would have represented stoicism through his ability to choose his work life over his family life: believing this to help his family and achieve happiness but he also extremely lacks balance and makes the wrong decisions in life to become rational. This seems a little unrealistic approach for the modern century. Yes you can choose how you personally handle every situation but that does not mean that you can find happiness in some of the harsher situations life throws at you. For instance, Frederick had the option to be able to go to his son's open heart surgery. He would of been able to make his son feel safe and loved, however, since he selected his work over his family once again, this could cement the distance between his family forever. Frederick did not balance work and family at all, instead, he choose to work hard now and eventually retire and then enjoy his family. Life does not work this way. While mathematically he could of potentially been balanced in years, he was not balanced in accordance to Aristotle's ideal or Stoicism, and therefore his unbalance life would be an issue when looking at which ideal brings the most

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