Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

Moral Philosophy

As Aristotle uncovered in the early chapters of Book 1 of Nicomachean Ethics, all actions teleological, aiming at the ultimate good. Everything we do is goal directed, with this ultimate end being happiness, but more exactly a maintained state of well being called eudaimonia. While the route to achieve this ultimate end can be unique for individuals and understood different by those of varying experience and intellectual levels, the chief good at the end always remains the same. The problem society seems to come upon, however, is the misunderstood definition of this ultimate good of true happiness.
There are three main lives, which Aristotle states, that misguided people live in chasing what they incorrectly believe
to be ultimate end. “For, it would seem, people quite reasonably reach their conception of the good, of happiness, from the lives they lead; for there are roughly three most favored lives: the lives of gratification, of political activity, and, third, of study.” (4) These three lives, in simpler terms, represent the feeling of pleasure, the status of honor, and the power of wealth. Aristotle believes that each of these, while necessary as good ends, is subordinate and not complete in the way the chief good is.
To begin with pleasure, Aristotle says that many people believe having a great physical sensation, mainly that of food, drink, and sex, is what it means to be happy.
In society today, especially American society, this idea is completely apparent. Every day we hear of people committing acts of crime, such as rape, in order to give them pleasure. On a closer level, alcoholics drinking in order to be happy, or obese people eating to be happy are examples of abuse of pleasure because they seek the physical sensation as the ultimate end. The problem with every physical pleasure however, is that it lasts only temporarily, and thus cannot be the ultimate good because physical pleasure is just a feeling and not a maintainable state of
being.
Some people might say that achieving great honor and position is the ultimate end towards which people should be aimed. This, Aristotle also states is a good thing intrinsically; however it is still not self-sufficient as an end to be the chief good. This idea of achieving great honor as being the sign of a good life at first seems plausible. Honorable people are all around by society thought to be good people who act in moral ways that others should look up to. While it is important to know when being honored is deserved, many people act honorable only in front of those who honor them. Honor is completely dependent upon those surrounding us as well as the admiration of those bystanders. For this reason, honor cannot be the chief good because it lacks completeness of being good in itself without outside factors.
The third end that seems to consume contemporary society is the accumulation of wealth.
Aristotle describes this lifestyle as being in a way “forced on him” (5) because he uses money as a means to other ends such as items that give pleasure or power to gain status and honor. Even though it seems obvious, there are still many people who chase money for the sake of having more money. This can be saddening because these people never realize that there is more to life than green pieces of paper; however in this American capitalist society, one is taught from a young age to strive to be successful and make lot of money. While money is still necessary in order to survive, it is not the money that we should be aiming at, but the lifestyle that having sufficient money permits us to
live.
The life of maintained happiness as a state, rather than a passing feeling, is not achieved via any of the three described ends. Though each is important to an extent, none individually can stand alone as the one to be a complete end, fully sufficient, and not subordinate to anything else. These concepts are popular in contemporary society, and it seems Aristotle is making a direct argument against the way most people are living. Over the past few years I have become aware of this different way of thinking about life and thanks to Aristotle have been trying to pursue not one of those three subordinate ends, but act with the chief good in mind.

Works Cited Aristotle, and Terence Irwin. Nicomachean Ethics. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Pub., 1985.