Aristotle states that everything that a man does is for an end purpose. He defines happiness as actions in accordance with reason. If humans live out their lives to their full potential and live according to reason and with virtues, than they can obtain happiness. In today’s world, many think that happiness is got from money, success, and fame. Many people believe that these things are essential for happiness. Aristotle suggests, it is what we do in our life, not what we gain from our life, like money or success, which gives us happiness. He argues that happiness does not occur instantly. In our world today, we want to feel happiness instantly. However, Aristotle does not rely on this idea. He believes that happiness comes over time and the things that happen in short lived moments do not truly make us happy, but that the activities or virtues, we engage in over time give us happiness in the end. He contends that by achieving certain virtues, it leads to happiness in the long run, not in an instantaneous moment. In our society today, Aristotle’s ideas on happiness would not be useful. In Aristotle’s perfect world, everyone would be virtuous and happy. Unfortunately, that is not how our society works today. Aristotle’s ideas are inaccurate because many people gain happiness out of doing unvirtuous actions. For example, Hitler gained some sort of happiness out of murdering Jews.…
‘Aristotelianism is defined as happiness as the quality of a whole life time.’ “Happiness is the purpose for which we live. Aristotle concluded that happiness is not a moment to moment experience of pleasurable things but rather a way of characterizing how one’s life is being conducted. Happiness is living and having lived a good life”. (Janaro & Altshuler, 2009)…
The definition of what it means to truly obtain and achieve happiness in life has been explored by hundreds of philosophers over the decades. In spite of this being the case for the subject, not one of these philosophers have found an exact answer to such a question. One cannot measure happiness and its capacity. As a result of this, people have no choice but to determine their own judgement of what happiness is to them. This judgement can easily be affected by an individual’s situation and the problems that they will inevitably face.…
1. According to the text a full functioning completely happy person will be mentally, physically, spiritually, financially, professionally, creatively, and socially healthy & well rounded individual. Happiness involves being really alive and not just existing. Aristotle believes that a person should work hard doing what they love, they also shouldn’t devote their lives to acquiring riches since riches don’t provide happiness. One should also reject fame and public success to become happy as self sufficiency is believed to provide happiness. Happiness is a process starting from infancy. A happy life is a life where spiritual, physical and social needs are met under reason and moderation. I think Aristotle recipe of happiness involves a person making a conscience decision to do the right thing in all aspects of their life. I think the happiness he refers to is obtained by living a healthy life, being in tune with our psyche, having a career that we enjoy, having friends and family to love, and having enough riches to support ourselves without gloating about them.…
Instead, we will look to a second definition of happiness by Miriam-Webster presenting a definition that more reasonably proposes that happiness is one’s position on life rather than a transient feeling. Miriam-Webster states that happiness is “a state of well-being and contentment.” By introducing this idea of well-being to an explanation of the inspiration of happiness, Miriam-Webster’s definition suggests that different elements, such as health and comfort, are required to create happiness. Many people over the course of history have attempted to define happiness, and some definitions are quite interesting, however, who is to say that any of the definitions are correct or incorrect? To answer the original question asked, “What is happiness?” there is no definite way to define happiness, especially not a definition that will be valid for every person. Happiness is something that is achieved, and once achieved, that person knows that something is different. It is something strived towards in our society because there are so many people facing adversity that many are unable to find their happiness due to their worries. In his book, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley introduces a type of society quite different from our own in which happiness…
Many people try to define and consider different definitions of what happiness is, and I think that Plato and Aristotle offer interesting views of happiness and what it means for one to live a good life. Both philosophers agree that happiness is an important factor in one’s life and essentially the essence of how to live a good life. Plato offers many theories and definitions of justice leading to happiness, while Aristotle argues that happiness is the main goal that all humans aim for in their entire life. Plato offers a philosophical view of a happy life for an individual by explaining a just state and what it would entail and also the theory of the forms that one must understand to achieve happiness. After learning about both philosophers, I have come to the conclusion that I agree with Aristotle’s view of happiness more because he gives us a broad outline of what a good life is. Although Plato was Aristotle’s mentor, Aristotle offers a view of happiness that is more plausible and relevant than Plato’s because it places a large emphasis on the idea of the function of a human being. Therefore, in this paper, I will argue that I agree with Aristotle’s view of happiness over Plato’s because of the way Aristotle describes how humans can achieve the greatest good in life: happiness.…
It is clear that Aristotle thinks happiness is what every human desires. He defines happiness as the highest good (Ethics 1095a), which by definition every person pursues as an ultimate end (1094a). Furthermore, he says that happiness can only be achieved through fulfillment of our characteristic activity, which is the thing that something does which makes it be that thing; for example, the characteristic activity of a flute-player is playing the flute. The good of anything with a characteristic activity is to perform that activity well (1097b). The characteristic activity of a human, says Aristotle, is a life concerned with reason (1098a), or more specifically, the activity of a soul concerned with reason. Therefore, the good of a human is to perform this activity well; that is, to live a life in accordance with virtue. Because this is a good of the soul, and goods of the soul are the best type of good (1098b), and because achieving the good of a human is the ultimate goal of being a human, Aristotle says that a life in accordance with…
Aristotle starts off in his essay explaining the definitions of Good, Primacy of Statecraft and the study of Ethics. He defines good as where all things are to be aimed, for example health. He then defines Statecraft as citizens of a state, a country, and of the world need to do good for their own good but more importantly for the good of the state. He also characterizes various types of good. Finally, the definition on study of Ethics. This talks about the pure excellence of justice that involves the disagreements and agreements of uncertainty and certainty. Aristotle also talks about happiness and where a certain point can be overlooked and how arguments can be led from first principles. First principles came about in a variety of ways: by induction, direct perception, and habituation. The question then leads to where the sources of happiness come from but a result of virtue of learning or some kind of training. Because the virtue of learning and the some kind of training is rewarded by a blessing that is generally shared but with the exception of the virtue being stunted. Aristotle concludes his essay by examining the most human element, the soul, and its relationship to virtue. Aristotle’s definition of happiness is, “Happiness is a certain activity of the soul in accordance with perfect virtue”.…
Aristotle was Plato’s prize pupil who discussed the types of moments where moral correctness may be applied to certain events, nature of virtues involved in the sound morality of humans as well as the ways to achieve happiness in one’s life. The overall question that Aristotle tends to ask himself and try to answer is the question that pertains to human character and personality, what do we as humans need to do, to be considered as a good person. Aristotle explained that every activity has a final cause and purpose at which it aims to achieve and he argued that since there is not an infinite amount of goods, there has to be one type of good that is the highest and most important which humans strive towards. He continues to describe this ultimate good and decided that it could be called happiness, however the only puzzling question left is, what is happiness? Due to its existence in so many forms it is tough to describe happiness as one true thing…
It did not take a long time for a new road to be laid at your feet: one that you cannot avoid, for it is where your past, present, and future all reside. It led, without straying away, straight into the town of…
He states that if happiness comes from human cultivation, it can be easily shared and almost everybody could be able to achieve it. This is the basis for his strong belief that this is a better way to receive happiness. At one point he even writes, “it would be seriously inappropriate to entrust what is greatest and finest to fortune.” Citing this strong preference for human agency based happiness, Aristotle declares that this is how humans achieve happiness. He then remarks that this explanation dovetails well with the definition of happiness – the activity of the soul expressing virtue, with necessary and useful goods - he put forward earlier. In turn, since happiness depends on the virtue, which needs to be cultivated, teaching citizens virtue (political science) must be the best good. So this line of reasoning bolsters his conclusion that political science is the best…
Aristotle was a greek philosopher who wrote the book “Nicomachean Ethics”. Aristotle’s view of human natures centers around humans achieving happiness. Too him happiness is our highest goal in life. Aristotle points out that most people in this world have a false view of what happiness really means. Most think of it as physical pleasure like eating, sex, or honor. These people have an imperfect view of what it means to be alive and what it means to be happy. The reason people have a false idea of happiness is because they lack virtue. Virtue is behaving in the right manner. Such as being courageous in life or being a coward. If one is courageous they will find happiness in being such while the coward would find happiness in the opposite but that is a false happiness. Aristotle takes the reader through the true meaning of being alive. He talks about many different aspects of achieving the good life and being happy; he stresses on topics like eudaemonia, classes of goods, and our telos and function in this world.…
In Aristotle’s work ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ he defines eudaimonia as ‘activity of the soul in accord with virtue, and indeed with the best and most complete virtue if there are more virtues than one’ (Zunjic, n.d.), and he identifies eudaimonia as the highest good as it meets two conditions that must be met in order to be considered the highest good: completeness and self-sufficiency. His work ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ however presents two views on what happiness is, a inclusive conception and a dominant conception. The inclusive conception consists of many different things that are considered to be intrinsically valuable such as happiness itself, whilst…
The Greeks had many ideas that contributed to the big concept of happiness. One of the many ideas that I learn from Greek philosophies is the idea of Agnostic, From a Greek meaning “unknown” or “unknowable”. This is commonly used to describe a person who does not patiently disbelieve in god but who asserts that nothing about god, including his existence, can be known for a certain. Another concept that compromises the idea of happiness is morality, in other words, depending on your beliefs distinguishing right from wrong. I will be comparing and contrasting how some of the ideas that I learned in my humanities class intertwine each other with the idea of happiness.…