Essay On Aristotle's Three Candidates For A Good Life

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In order to figure out what characteristics are demonstrated in a happy and good life, Aristotle sorts out characteristics that do not lead to a good life. In chapter 5 of Book 1 in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle rejects three candidates for the good or happiness, which shows the criteria for candidates for good or happiness, and then determines what the candidates of a good life are. To begin, Aristotle considers these characteristics, which are the lives of pleasure, honor, and wealth. Aristotle considers these lives and after consideration rejects them with a reason why it is not a candidate for the good or happiness. He rejects the pleasurable life with this statement: “Now the mass of mankind are evidently quite slavish in their tastes, preferring a life suitable to beasts (1095b, 19).” To further hone in, Aristotle describes pleasure as something reserved for beasts because following our desires is similar to a beast which makes us no different than lower animals. For a life of honor, Aristotle states that it is “too superficial to be what we are looking for (1095b, 26)” and rejects because honor is dependent on others. This means whether or not you obtain a life of honor is up to the others …show more content…

Each candidate has a general flaw, pleasure with a life run by desires, honor, a life that is not controlled by oneself, and wealth, where it is not the final good that one can have. It is through these rejections that Aristotle finds what makes the general features of a candidates for the good or happiness, which are self-sustainment, being the final good, and what the rejected candidates aren’t. For example, this good must not be obtained through other people, but by oneself, and cannot be used to get something greater, like wealth. It is through these general features that Aristotle thinks happiness and the good can be

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