Aristotle's Argument Essay: The Pursuit Of Happiness
We all want to be happy but how do we to find eternal happiness? Happiness has been the question to many that are unable to answer based on their own opinions. Aristotle states, “Happiness depends on ourselves” (Pursuit of Happiness). He makes many points as to what happiness is. He says that happiness is the ultimate end and purpose of human existence, it is the exercise of virtue, it is the perfection of human nature, it depends on our character, and it requires intellectual contemplation. True happiness is found by practicing to become virtuous.
Happiness is a virtue that we acquire throughout our life. When I was young, I found happiness in things that my Mother would be happy about. An example of this would be sunsets. My Mother loved …show more content…
This is from activity that results happiness. The highest object of a person is intelligence. Therefore, intelligence and contemplation are the highest forms of happiness (Book X, Chapter VIII). In order to be happy, a person must be virtuous and in order to be virtuous, a person needs to practice virtue to be good. People are unlikely to be naturally virtuous. It comes through education at a young age. A child can be educated to be a virtuous person but it is up to them to make that choice. This would be like telling a person that they can have ten scoops of ice cream or one scoop of ice cream. The person is educated and knows that ten scoops of ice cream would be bad for them but one scoop wouldn’t be. They then have to make the choice whether to or not take ten scoops or one. It all comes with practice to say yes to good and no to bad.
In the book, The Philosophy of Happiness, the author points out that happiness is a gift from God (Chapter 1, page 21: Happiness as a Gift of God). I believe that the author is correct. What is truly good makes us happy. Doing what is bad can also make us think that we are happy but will it make us eternally happy? No, it will make us temporarily happy. Eternal happiness comes from God. Through God, he gives us happiness to be shared amongst others. We find happiness in the good in life, not the
Happiness is a virtue that we acquire throughout our life. When I was young, I found happiness in things that my Mother would be happy about. An example of this would be sunsets. My Mother loved …show more content…
This is from activity that results happiness. The highest object of a person is intelligence. Therefore, intelligence and contemplation are the highest forms of happiness (Book X, Chapter VIII). In order to be happy, a person must be virtuous and in order to be virtuous, a person needs to practice virtue to be good. People are unlikely to be naturally virtuous. It comes through education at a young age. A child can be educated to be a virtuous person but it is up to them to make that choice. This would be like telling a person that they can have ten scoops of ice cream or one scoop of ice cream. The person is educated and knows that ten scoops of ice cream would be bad for them but one scoop wouldn’t be. They then have to make the choice whether to or not take ten scoops or one. It all comes with practice to say yes to good and no to bad.
In the book, The Philosophy of Happiness, the author points out that happiness is a gift from God (Chapter 1, page 21: Happiness as a Gift of God). I believe that the author is correct. What is truly good makes us happy. Doing what is bad can also make us think that we are happy but will it make us eternally happy? No, it will make us temporarily happy. Eternal happiness comes from God. Through God, he gives us happiness to be shared amongst others. We find happiness in the good in life, not the