Aristotle And Aristotle: Aristotle's Idea Of The Good Life

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This paper will explain Aristotle’s idea of the good life as well as how virtues fit into the equation and if they are stable and enduring. Pertaining to the prompt, I will explain the three types of friendships Aristotle describes and how one of the friendships is the best according to him. I will also show the reason why Aristotle views friendship as one of the greatest goods. To answer the critic, I will show that although Aristotle holds that the good life is self-sufficient, because he holds friendship in such a high regard, he believes that a person will not be able to obtain perfect happiness without friendship. In Aristotle’s novel The Nicomachean Ethics, his main concern is how humans are able to reach eudaimonia where eudaimonia means flourishing, happiness and for the purpose of this paper, the good life. Aristotle holds that happiness is the greatest human good and that people recognize that they need this to live a good life. People are able to come to this understanding but disagreements arise on what happiness truly is. Most people view happiness as being synonymous with pleasure but those who seek pleasure are not living the good life because they tend to go looking for it in the wrong places. Another view of happiness is that it involves honor. Aristotle thinks that …show more content…

Nancy Sherman summarizes that we need friendships at different points in our lives to serve different purposes whether it be for guidance or stimulation (Sherman, 208). Another way of putting it is by saying that friends are ways for us to practice our virtuous activities. Friends are also valuable because they belong absolutely to happiness. Happiness without friendship will be unfulfilling and the good life won’t be as meaningful. What Aristotle holds generally about friendship is that without friends, the good life will be harder for us to obtain because we are limited in what we are able to do

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