Happiness and the Golden Mean

1406 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Aristotle notion of happiness

In the Declaration of Independence, it states that all men, being equal by nature, have the equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is interesting from Thomas Jefferson’s point of view that he says that we have the right to pursue happiness. When he said this, what did he mean in ways of understanding it and pursing this happiness? To live, as we have experienced, is itself a means to living well. The same applies to freedom. We cannot pursue happiness if we cannot freely carry out the choices we make. “If everything is determined for us, if the pattern of our life is imposed upon us, there would be no sense in talking about planning our lives or about adopting a plan for living well.” We need to stay and be alive in order to live well. To live well, we need a planned effort. To make an effort, we need the liberty and freedom to carry that out. Since these things are needed to pursue happiness, we have a right to them. The question is, do we need to live well? If not, what was Thomas Jefferson referring to when he wrote in the Declaration that every man had the right to pursue happiness? Should happiness be pursued? This is answered through Aristotle’s philosophy. On happiness, Aristotle states, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” “This end is realized through continuous acting in accordance with virtues which, like happiness, must be desired for themselves, not for the short term pleasures that can be derived from them.”

“Living well, or happiness, is the ultimate or final end of all our doing in this life—that which we seek for its own sake and for the sake of no further good beyond it. We also saw that we do in fact desire certain thing...

... middle of paper ...

... Mean, it only applies for virtues, not vices and of relativism of a person’s context.

Bibliography

Adler, Mortimer. Aristotle for Everybody. Toronto, New York, London, Sydney, Aukland: Bantam Books,

1978.

American Nihilist Underground Society, "Golden Mean." Accessed December 20, 2013.

http://www.anus.com/zine/articles/draugdur/golden_mean/.

"Essay On The Golden Mean Of Aristotle." Blogspot(blog), March 24, 2013.

http://writtenthesis.blogspot.com/2013/03/essay-on-golden-mean-of-aristotle.html (accessed December 21, 2013).

Jancar, Barbara. The Philosophy of Aristotle. New York: Thor Publications, 1963.

"Philosophical discussion: Aristotle’s Golden Mean."L'homme absurd (blog), November 30, 2010.

http://phenomenologyftw.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/philosophical-discussion-aristotles-golden-mean/ (accessed December 20, 2013).

Show More
Related

  • Happiness and Impossible Standards in Aristotle's The Nicomachean Ethics

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    Humans, throughout recorded history, have searched for a proper way of living which would lead them to ultimate happiness; the Nicomachean Ethics, a compilation of lecture notes on the subject written by Greek philosopher Aristotle, is one of the most celebrated philosophical works dedicated to this study of the way. As he describes it, happiness can only be achieved by acting in conformity with virtues, virtues being established by a particular culture’s ideal person operating at their top capacity. In our current society the duplicity of standards in relation to virtue makes it difficult for anyone to attain. To discover true happiness, man must first discover himself.

    Read More

  • The Nichomachean Conception of Happiness

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    Happiness, to Aristotle, is a term for which much exactitude must be made. He understands that, "Happiness both the refined and the few call it, but about the nature of this Happiness, men dispute." As such, he goes to great lengths to attain a fairly accurate accounting of what he sees as Happiness. He begins by illustrating that Happiness is an End, establishes what he finds the work of Man to be, sets conditions on being happy, and then explains where in Man the cultivation of Happiness is to be sought. The result of all these ideas is his fully developed sense of Happiness, an understanding vital to his conception of Ethics.

    Read More

  • The Pursuit of Happiness - Four Revolutionary Words, by Andrew Sullivan

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    "It's a small phrase when you think about it: "the pursuit of happiness." It's somewhat over-shadowed in the Declaration of Independence by the weightier notions of "life" and "liberty." In today's mass culture, it even comes close to being banal. Who, after all, doesn't want to pursue happiness? But in its own day, the statement was perhaps the most radical political statement ever delivered. And when we try and fathom why it is that the United States still elicits such extreme hatred in some parts of the world, this phrase is as good a place to start as any." "What power four little words still have. And what carnage they must still endure to survive. "

    Read More

  • Vision Achieved By Jefferson

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Vision Achieved Jefferson envisioned a government that allowed its citizens to exercise inalienable rights. In exact words, he states, “ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” To be more evident, how can we define these “inalienable rights” of “life”, “liberty”, and the “pursuit of happiness?” Have these inalienable rights, achieved Jefferson’s goal? I am convinced, Jefferson’s revolutionary vision of life, liberty, and happiness has at last been achieved in America.

    Read More

  • Aristotle Wins Ethically: A comparison between John Stuart Mill and Aristotle on happiness

    1260 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, Aristotle’s elucidation of happiness is based on a ground of ethics because happiness to him is coveted for happiness alone. The life of fame and fortune is not the life for Aristotle. Happiness is synonymous for living well. To live well is to live with virtue. Virtue presents humans with identification for morals, and for Aristotle, we choose to have “right” morals. Aristotle defines humans by nature to be dishonored when making a wrong decision. Thus, if one choses to act upon pleasure, like John Stuart Mill states, for happiness, one may choose the wrong means of doing so. Happiness is a choice made rationally among many pickings to reach this state of mind. Happiness should not be a way to “win” in the end but a way to develop a well-behaved, principled reputation.

    Read More

  • Placing Me Before We in Ayn Rand's Anthem

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    1. "My happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to an end. It is the end."

    Read More

  • Response To Jefferson's Declaration Of Independence

    1755 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jefferson's text was extremely taboo especially without the support of a reputable country. Thomas Jefferson's words were also courageous and daring. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson used the words in the preamble - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - in which he uses happiness to mean property. He also gives examples of the tyrant qualities King George possesses and attacks the king's character and his skills as a leader.

    Read More

  • The How of Happiness

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book, The How of Happiness, author and researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky sets her book apart from other self-awareness books by being the first to utilize empirical studies. She uses data gained through scientific method to provide support for her hypothesis. This hypothesis consists mainly of the idea that we have the ability to overcome genetic predisposition and circumstantial barriers to happiness by how we think and what we do. She emphasizes that being happier benefits ourselves, our family and our community. “The How of Happiness is science, and the happiness-increasing strategies that [she] and other social psychologists have developed are its key supporting players” (3).

    Read More

  • Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

    1144 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ust be happiness. Furthermore, he asserts that since we must start from our own experience, we must be brought up in fine habits to be more easily capable of fine things. Chapter five elaborates on this point, proposing that people reach their interpretations of happiness according to the kinds of lives they lead. Three kinds of lives are introduced. The first is of the many, who see happiness as pleasure, and this concept is dismissed as vulgar and only suitable for animals. Second is the cultivated, who are active in politics and see happiness as having honour. However, this too is dismissed as superficial, as being honoured depends on others opinions. The cause of honour, virtue, is considered as well, but also dismissed as possessing virtue does not equate to happiness. Third is the life of study, which is postponed, perhaps for another book in this work.

    Read More

  • Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: Happiness

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    Virtue, then deals with those feelings and actions in which it is wrong to go too far and wrong to fall too short but in which hitting the mean is praiseworthy and good….

    Read More

  • Perspectives on Happiness From Famous Philosophists

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    Happiness is not easy to define. A good life has one characteristic – happiness. Happiness can be defined as pleasure, joy, contentment and satisfaction. Understandings of how to be happy were changing throughout the history. Aristotle who lived in 4th century BC in Athens and Schopenhauer who is19th century philosopher from Germany have contrasting understanding of happiness. In this essay I will argue that Aristotle and Schopenhauer provide accounts of happiness that are useful to contemporary society. The reason for this is that happiness is universal and people’s ways to achieve it did not changed tremendously over times.

    Read More

  • The Definition of Happiness

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    According to Webster dictionary the word Happiness in defined as Enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy. People when they think of happiness, they think about having to good feeling inside. There are many types of happiness, which are expressed in many ways. Happiness is something that you can't just get it comes form your soul. Happiness is can be changed through many things that happen in our every day live.

    Read More

  • Virtue and Happiness

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    Happiness is the goal of every human beings according to Aristotle, however what does happiness imply? It is in his attempt to define happiness and to find a way to attain it that Aristotle comes across the idea of virtue. It is thus necessary to explain the relationship between these two terms. I will start by defining the good and virtue and then clarify their close link with the argument of function, I will then go into more details in explaining the different ways in which they are closely related and finally I am going to give an account of the apparent contradiction in Book X which is a praise of the life of study.

    Read More

  • Virtue Ethics

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    the right way to go. Aristotle says that virtues are something that we

    Read More

  • Pursuit of Happyness: Narrative Essay

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    The movie Pursuit of Happyness shows how a person became a homeless then eventually how he survived from being a homeless. Then, to being a multi millionaire. Even though he experienced how hard life can be he still pursued to reach his goals in his life for his son. This movie shows how a homeless person stand up and pursue to be successful.

    Read More

More about Happiness and the Golden Mean

Open Document