Aristotle’s Ethics

...

Alongside what Aristotle identifies as the greatest good, Aristotle continues to build upon what attributes are necessary for a person to live a good life. He explains what it means to be happy versus good. In order to live a good life, one must be a good, virtuous person and live a pleasant life, not one of despair. However, to live a happy life, we must explain it differently than we would identify it by today’s standards. Happiness is not identified as an activity but rather a state. Aristotle explains that in order to live a happy life, you cannot have died prematurely. A child, taken from this world too soon, may have lived a good life, but cannot be referred to as to have lived a happy life. Someone can achieve a good life by living virtuously, hopefully a happy life with a balance of the other conditions of happiness that Aristotle identifies.

Eudaimonia is translated as well-being and the idea that humans can flourish. Self-actualization, over a lifetime, is what it means for a human to flourish. The theory that the highest ethical goal is happiness and personal well-being as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Aristotle would be a firm believer in Eudaimonia based on his research and his teachings. His teachings demonstrate that happiness is our goal on earth.

It is interesting to review Aristotle’s teachings of what defines happiness. He exclaims that one cannot have achieved happiness if they are to die at a young age, while other civilizations, such as the Spartans of Greece, would define dying in battle, as one of the highest honors in life. Those that would die in battle were young and courageous men. It is an opposing theory of what defines happiness in a way. If you were to refuse your government, and refuse to give your life, you would be seen as cowardice and dishonorable.

Aristotle was very wise for his time. Aristotle was able to draw conclusions from experiences of the world in his time that still apply today. We aim to be happy. In the end, our biggest regrets are the chances we didn’t take to make us happiest. We need to lead a life of comfort to pave the road that leads to our happiness. We must possess virtue, practical wisdom, friendship, good fortune, pleasure, habitual right doing, proper education and the correct political conditions. Based on Aristotle’s teachings, then, and only then, can we achieve true happiness.

References

Price, A.W. Virtue and Reason in Plato and Aristotle. January 2012. http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199609611.001.0001/acprof-9780199609611-chapter-3

Kraut, Richard. Aristotle’s Ethics. 1 May 2001. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/

Milch, Robert J., and Charles H. Patterson. CliffsNotes on Ethics. 13 Apr 2017 https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/e/ethics/about-aristotles-ethics

Thorsby, Mark. 21. Happiness as Eudaimonia: Aristotle's Virtue Ethics. 28 Apr 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0wRT1coJh8