Plato and Aristotle, both have similarities and differences in their ideas of which virtues are important and how they lead to happiness. For Plato, in his book "The Republic", happiness is achieved by adhering to a set of rules put into place by the state for each class. According to Aristotle 's "Nicomachean Ethics", Aristotle believed that all human activity is done to achieve happiness, which is considered the supreme good. Becoming wealthy, or famous, or seeking physical pleasure is only done to achieve happiness. Aristotle believed that happiness can only truly be achieved after death, because happiness is more of a temporary state, but while alive, virtue can be achieved by finding a mean between the extremes of excess and deficiency. That mentality can apply to the wealth of a farmer for example; if a farmer is being overpaid for his services, he would become careless and lazy, while an underpaid farmer wouldn’t be able to afford the equipment needed to complete his job. However, there are some things that are considered immoral whether a mean is achieved or not, such as …show more content…
Aristotle believes the amount of friends should be limited because a real friendship requires time. In battle, Plato agrees that if the enemy is also Greek, then precautions should be taken with regards to land, and killing, however, if the enemy is not Greek, then there are no boundaries. Plato believes that knowing what is right will automatically lead to the right thing being done, while Aristotle believes that it isn 't enough to just know what is good, the person still must make the right choice. Plato believes that virtue wasn’t mandatory for a somewhat primitive kind of happiness, however Aristotle believed that virtue was needed. Plato basically believed that all of the virtues boil down to wisdom, and Aristotle believed that virtue must be practiced, and one can still be virtuous and
The human capacity for positive and negative feelings is shaped by the forces of evolution. These forces have also been involved in the way philosophers viewed their philosophical perspectives on life, death, the world and most importantly on this paper, the importance of the appearance of happiness from the reality of happiness comparing Socrates views on others. This paper will also attempt to identify the more pertinent innate qualities of the human brain with happiness, Socrates views on the appearance/reality of happiness and how we might live our own life according to Socrates defense and Euthyphro’s failures from Captain Picard’s “tapestry”.
Since Aristotle was a student of Plato, there are definitely some similarities between the two. Both of them attempted to describe what it means to be virtuous as a human being. Possessing virtue as a human is a necessity in life and determines how we behave towards ourselves and others. Acting on and reacting to the circumstances of life is how we spend our time here on Earth. The virtues that we possess
To be just or unjust. To be happy or unhappy? Men fall into these two categories. Why does a man act according to these 2 extremes? Is it because they fear punishment? Are they quivering in fear of divine retribution? Or do men do just things because it is good for them to do so? Is justice, good of its rewards and consequences? Or is it good for itself. What is justice? Are the people who are just, just as happy as the people who are unjust? Plato sheds light on these questions and says yes, I have the definition of justice and yes, just people are happy if not happier than unjust people. Plato show’s that justice is worthwhile in and of itself and that being a just person equates to being a happy person. In my opinion, Plato does a good job and is accurate when explaining what it is to be just and this definition is an adequate solution to repairing an unjust person or an unjust city or anything that has an unjust virtue and using the definition of what justice is accurately explains why just people are happier than unjust people.
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.
Teleology can be defined as the search for the end goal, or ultimate purpose of an action. In order to propose the idea that there is an “end goal” in human life, or a further purpose to life, Aristotle introduces teleology. By understanding an action, the end goal can be determined. Aristotle then brings forth the idea that life would be “fruitless” without fulfillment, and that happiness is therefore the end. Aristotle defines happiness as general well-being, or human flourishing. He arrives at this definition by determining that there must be a result , or further purpose to of actions, otherwise life would be fruitless. Aristotle states that happiness as the a chief good is meaningless, and a better definition is needed for the chief
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).
Aristotle begins his ethical account by saying that “every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and every choice, is thought to aim for some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim” (line 1094a1). Though some things might produce higher good than others, Aristotle looks for the highest good, which he says we must “desire for its own sake” and our actions are not decided on some other goal beyond this good itself (line 1094a20-25).[1] This highest good is then realized to be happiness (line 1095a16-20).
sex and hostile or jealous feelings toward the parent of the same sex that may
In Book I of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle states that the ultimate human goal or end is happiness. Aristotle describes the steps required for humans to obtain happiness. Aristotle states that activity is an important requirement of happiness. He states that a happy person cannot be inactive. He then goes on to say that living a life of virtue is something pleasurable in itself. The virtuous person takes pleasure in doing virtuous things. The role of virtue is an important one for Aristotle. Without virtue, it seems one cannot obtain happiness. Virtue acts as a linking factor to happiness.
We have two great philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. These are great men, whose ideas have not been forgotten over years. Although their thoughts of politics were similar, we find some discrepancies in their teachings. The ideas stem from Socrates to Plato to Aristotle. Plato based moral knowledge on abstract reason, while Aristotle grounded it on experience and tried to apply it more to concrete living. Both ways of life are well respected by many people today.
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.
1.) Aristotle begins by claiming that the highest good is happiness (198, 1095a20). In order to achieve this happiness, one must live by acting well. The highest good also needs to be complete within itself, Aristotle claims that, “happiness more than anything else seems complete without qualification, since we always…choose it because of itself, never because of something else (204, 1097b1). Therefore, Aristotle is claiming that we choose things and other virtues for the end goal of happiness. Aristotle goes on to define happiness as a self-sufficient life that actively tries to pursue reason (205, 1098a5). For a human, happiness is the soul pursuing reason and trying to apply this reason in every single facet of life (206, 1098a10). So, a virtuous life must contain happiness, which Aristotle defines as the soul using reason. Next, Aristotle explains that there are certain types of goods and that “the goods of the soul are said to be goods to the fullest extent…” (207, 1098b15). A person who is truly virtuous will live a life that nourishes their soul. Aristotle is saying “that the happy person lives well and does well…the end
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
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
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...