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Immanuel Kant's View Of Moral Virtue

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Aristotle’s account of morality and his concepts of moral virtue arise from his understanding of human nature. He noticed that every action of man has some end in view, and these ends seem to be an endless chain. For this reason, he he asked “what is the highest good?” for humans. He concludes that happiness is the highest good, and the ultimate purpose for human life, and is the only goal to pursue in itself. Many activities are directed towards various virtues such as honor, a good reputation, wealth and pleasure, but are ultimately acted upon because it will bring about happiness. To be an ultimate end, an act must be self-sufficient and final, and happiness seems to be “that which is always desirable in itself, and never for the sake …show more content…

The idea of happiness is not a morally worthy pursuit, and only actions which come from respect to moral law, poses moral value. Contrastly to Aristotle, happiness cannot be the moral motivator of human action. For Kant, happiness is simply getting what you want and is not the basis for his system of ethics. It is powerless as a function of the basis of morality. For example, getting what you want may mean preventing others from getting what they want, so it seems impossible for everyone to be happy, and therefore moral. Kant does not agree with Aristotle on the claim that if you are moral, you are happy. He takes into account many instances where being moral does not lead to happiness, and where happiness does not entail morality. He goes on to explain that many people do not seem to know what makes them happy… “The concept of happiness is such an indeterminate concept that, although every human being wishes to attain this, he can still never say determinately and consistently with himself what he wishes and wills” (?????). Many tend to believe that attracted wealth will bring about happiness, but as studies show there is a cap where happiness levels off at a certain income, and it’s actually not that high. He states that as finite beings we

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Thus, when human function is done well, it is in accordance with virtue and best human life is achieved. In addition, it can be inferred that since Aristotle’s definition of happiness is to be virtuous, performing rational activity well can lead to happiness. In addition, Aristotle states, “if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most complete” (1098a18). This means that eventually there will be one virtue that is inclusive of all virtue and that displays an end, and this virtue will be in line with the self-sufficient and inclusive concept of happiness as the chief good. If this inclusive virtue and good is achieved, ultimate happiness will be achieved as well.

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