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Aristotle and Plato on happiness
Aristotle's conception of happiness
What does happiness mean to Aristotle
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Recommended: Aristotle and Plato on happiness
Aristotle believed that people are political and social beings that perform tasks common to all. He thought that the only way to obtain our full development was in societies. Although, he underestimates woman and thinks that they are not rational beings, and he is very judgemental towards woman. He explains that the one main objective for all actions is that actions seek for itself or for its own purpose for that matter. Also, Aristotle talks about eudaimonia which is defined as human potential being realized. This shows a connection to Aristotle 's ideas on happiness. Humans are a very intelligent species with having both a theoretical and practical frame of mind as two opposing forces. With the ability to reason and make decision which …show more content…
Aristotle had the idea of a good concept for the good life. This was relating to the life of intellectual reflection, happiness, the pursuit of pleasure and to be honorable. Although, Aristotle believed that intellectual ability was among the most powerful action of human activity. Whereas, Plato believes that intellectuals pleasures are idea over physical one. However, this can be related to the nature of humans by expressing how happiness comes not from ones action, but from one 's mind set. If the mind is strong and happy then the body will follow with the appropriate …show more content…
Furthermore, how people need to work for their own goals and achieve them. The term human nature can be depicted as many different ideas and can mean different things to different people. However, with Aristotle it 's the idea that ones self is responsible for their own actions and that they are in charge of their own life. With the idea of virtue, which is the knowledge of what the right thing to do is Aristotle relates this to human natures by showing how people need to do what 's the best for them and to know that seeking happiness comes from within themself and their habits. Thus, Aristotle was one of the most influential philosophers of his time. He looked at things that other were either too afraid to talk about or didn 't even notice. Aristotle made people question themselves for the betterment of themselves and thus being one of the best at looking into the soul of the person to help them find not only themself, but the happiness that they are looking
Aristotle believes that happiness rests within an absolutely final and self-sufficient end. The reasoning behind this theory is that every man is striving for some end, and every action he does must be due to this desire to reach this final end. He believes that in order for a man to be happy, he must live an active life of virtue, for this will in turn bring him closer to the final end. Although some may believe that these actions that the man chooses to take is what creates happiness, Aristotle believes that these actions are just a mere part of the striving toward the final end. I believe that Aristotle’s great-souled man is the highest virtue of character; His actions are never too extreme and he is appropriate in all his manners. The magnanimous person is within the intermediate state of character. “The deficient person is pusillanimous, and the person who goes to excess is vain” (§35). The magnanimous person surrounds himself with great things. The great things occurs when “he receives great honors from excellent pe...
Aristotle’s nature of law appealed to me the most because he defines the cultivation of virtues that achieve full potential in life. Aristotle’s theory of happiness had a process of exercising a moral life in order to reach genuine eudaemonia, which means, “actively exercising the soul’s powers”. The fulfillment of the self, allowed a person to strengthen their system of morals and values to practice a “good” life. Your whole persona should life a live with integrity, never conflicting your happiness with false satisfaction. As one develop a solid set of morals and beliefs, and then one can create a path of righteousness that will benefit the value of character. As one lives life, one is able to adjust their view of happiness due to the experience
Although both philosophers believe that you have to be moral in order to be good, their definitions of both happiness and moral virtue differ. Aristotle’s goal in, “The Nicomachean Ethics,” is to argue that there is such thing as a chief good as well as to argue his definition of happiness. virtue is a mean; but in respect of what is right and what is right and best, it is an extreme (Aristotle, 42).” Here Aristotle explains that moral virtue is determined by reason and that it avoids the states of too much, excess, or too little, deficiency. He believes that our soul is the principle of living because it is inside of us.
In the Philosophical work, Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle makes claims about happiness being the highest aim and end at which all human activity is directed. He states that happiness is a supreme good, and therefore should be considered the ultimate goal of every action undertaken by an individual. This assertion regarding happiness as a final end, proposes the question, how can a person define and obtain happiness? Aristotle attempts to use his theory of ethics to address this question. His perspective on the supreme good, is that it is a way of life and exhibited in the way we act and that happiness is derived from living a life in accordance with virtues. In this paper I will address Aristotle’s deviance from popular belief regarding what
Both Plato and Augustine offer unusual conceptions of what one must acquire to live a truly happy life. While the conventional view of happiness normally pertains to wealth, financial stability, and material possessions, Plato and Augustine suggest that true happiness is rooted in something independent of objects or people. Though dissimilar in their notions of that actual root, each respective philosophy views the attaining of that happiness as a path, a direction. Plato’s philosophy revolves around the attainment of eternal knowledge and achieving a metaphysical balance. Augustine also emphasizes one’s knowing the eternal, though his focus is upon living in humility before God. Both assert that human beings possess a natural desire for true happiness, and it is only through a path to something interminable that they will satisfy this desire.
One of Aristotle’s conclusions in the first book of Nicomachean Ethics is that “human good turns out to be the soul’s activity that expresses virtue”(EN 1.7.1098a17). This conclusion can be explicated with Aristotle’s definitions and reasonings concerning good, activity of soul, and excellence through virtue; all with respect to happiness.
Aristotle is a strong believer that reaching happiness is the ultimate goal of humans. He says, “Another belief which harmonizes with our account is that the happy man
From pursuing pleasure to avoiding pain, life seems to ultimately be about achieving happiness. However, how to define and obtain happiness has and continues to be a widely debated issue. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle gives his view on happiness. Aristotle focuses particularly on how reason, our rational capacity, should help us recognize and pursue what will lead to happiness and the good life.';(Cooley and Powell, 459) He refers to the soul as a part of the human body and what its role is in pursuing true happiness and reaching a desirable end. Aristotle defines good'; as that which everything aims.(Aristotle, 459) Humans have an insatiable need to achieve goodness and eventual happiness. Sometimes the end that people aim for is the activity they perform, and other times the end is something we attempt to achieve by means of that activity. Aristotle claims that there must be some end since everything cannot be means to something else.(Aristotle, 460) In this case, there would be nothing we would try to ultimately achieve and everything would be pointless. An ultimate end exists so that what we aim to achieve is attainable. Some people believe that the highest end is material and obvious (when a person is sick they seek health, and a poor person searches for wealth).
It was Aristotle’s belief that everything, including humans, had a telos or goal in life. The end result or goal was said to be happiness or “eudaimonia”. He explained that eudaimonia was different for each person, and that each had a different idea of what it meant. Further, he said that people must do things in moderation, but at the same time do enough. The theory, of “the golden mean of moderation” was the basis to Aristotle's idea of the human telos and concluded that living a virtuous life must be the same for all people. Aristotle maintained that the natural human goal to be happy could only be achieved once each individual determined his/her goal. A person’s telos is would usually be what that individual alone can do best. Aristotle described the humans as "rational animals" whose telos was to reason. Accordingly, Aristotle thought that in order for humans to be happy, they would have to be able to reason, and to be governed by reason. If a person had difficulty behaving morally or with ethics, he was thought to be “imperfect”. Moral virtue, a principle of happiness, was the ability to evade extremes in behavior and further to find the mean between it and adequacy. Aristotle’s idea of an ideal state was one where the populous was able to practice eth...
Aristotle’s word “eudaimonia” is translated into English as ‘happiness’. “Eudaimonia” notion belonged to theory of virtue. Understanding of this theory will lead to get a better grasp of what he meant when he used the word “eudaimonia”. Aristotle in his “Nicomachean Ethics” believed that happiness is not a goal, but goes with certain activities. He uses example of eating. When a person eats not enough, the person is not satisfied. When a person eats too much, then he or she cannot enjoy the taste, but only need for sleep and need for idleness. So when the person eats just enough that is the virtuous action. The better example might be the attitude one. The person who is virtuous is neither a coward nor rash, but is courageous. He believes that if people choose this way of living, it will lead them to happiness. Also Aristotle took into account the realities of life. He believed that there is no such thing as one correct way of living. He thought that it is personal. He suggested experimenting and that making mistakes would help to find a virtuous activity. So “eudaimononia” has a meaning of “flouri...
Aristotle once stated that, “But if happiness be the exercise of virtue, it is reasonable to suppose that it will be the exercise of the highest virtue; and that will be the virtue or excellence of the best part of us.” (481) It is through Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics that we are able to gain insight into ancient Greece’s moral and ethical thoughts. Aristotle argues his theory on what happiness and virtue are and how man should achieve them.
Aristotle rejects the idea of universal happiness by explaining how Plato does not incorporate the large number of variants. Aristotle believes that good is not a single, common universal, because what it is to be good is particular to the essence of the individual. One might also argue that other common factors associated with happiness were wealth, pleasure, knowledge, and honor. Aristotle disagrees and found each of these limited to the notion of the good of man. Some benefits that may motivate them to seek better opportunities within their career may be the thought of money bringing happiness and also they will practice living the good life. Developing a good character requires a strong effort of will to do the right thing, even in difficult situations. The general idea that happiness is a result of the wealth is skewed from reality. Wealth is a means to happiness, not actual happiness, one who is wealthy, but is unable to actually use the money is not happy. Aristotle feels the good for man is something that is not dependent on anything else, so being wealthy is not something desirable. Happiness is not pleasurable sensations that can be gained or lost, it is what we seek when acting and is a condition of a person over a lifetime, not at one
His philosophical theory was very simple and he wanted to teach people how to be happy. He stated “In all our activities there is an end, which we seek for its own sake, and everything else is a means to this end…Happiness is this ultimate end. It is the end we seek in all that we do.” What Aristotle means is that everything we do in our daily activities and actions is all leading up to the end result which is happiness. For example, I work and attend school full time and everything that I do is sub goals leading towards being a successful person which causes me to be happy. Aristotle says happiness is also found in our feelings. A personal example is I love my family and it makes me happy having people to care about and to support them. Sub goals on the way, such as making an A in a class or finishing college and getting a degree are self-awarding pleasures that create happiness. Those are a few examples that make me happy and doing well and succeeding is the key to happiness. For happiness to happen in general, people need to have a reason or virtue in our lives. That everyone has their strong suites about themselves and we need to express and share them with others to help others grow as well. What I understand from Aristotle’s theories of happiness is that our feelings and good actions and being able to control them is what makes us
Happiness can be viewed as wealth, honour, pleasure, or virtue. Aristotle believes that wealth is not happiness, because wealth is just an economic value, but can be used to gain some happiness; wealth is a means to further ends. The good life, according to Aristotle, is an end in itself. Similar to wealth, honour is not happiness because honour emphases on the individuals who honour in comparison to the honouree. Honour is external, but happiness is not. It has to do with how people perceive one another; the good life is intrinsic to the...
For both Plato and Aristotle, virtue was considered essential for happiness. For Plato, wisdom is the basic virtue and with it, one can unify all virtues into a whole. Aristotle, on the other hand, believed that wisdom was virtuous, but that achieving virtue was neither automatic nor did it grant any unification of other virtues. To Aristotle, wisdom was a goal achieved only after effort, and unless a person chose to think and act wisely, other virtues would remain out of reach