In Book I, Aristotle mentions that happiness is an end goal and “one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed and happy”. In agreement with this statement, happiness is something that takes time and each person should strive for it every day. Road blocks are bound to occur and bad days will happen. By keeping the end goal in mind, it makes it easier to avoid getting stuck in a rut. Within Book I, Aristotle also questions whether or…
Aristotle believed that we as humans have natural obligations that provide happiness. Happiness consists of pleasure and the capacity to develop reasoning.…
My moral beliefs also correspond to the philosophy that is taught by Aristotle. In my opinion, happiness comes from within ourselves, not from our surroundings. I think this is a very important part of Aristotle’s teaching. I believe that in order to accept others and enjoy life, we must first learn to accept ourselves and be proud of who we are. If we are constantly ashamed with who we are, then we are not free to live a happy life. I think this is the main idea in Aristotle’s teaching. He believed that in order for us to be happy we must build our own character by choosing to live virtuously.…
Aristotle doesn’t think that happiness is something that comes and goes continuously, he sees happiness as a goal in ones life or the ultimate value of ones life so far. “Verbally there is a very general agreement; for both the general run of men and people of superior refinement say that it is happiness, and identify living well and doing well with being happy; but with regard to what happiness is they differ, and the many do not give the same account as the wise” (Nicomachean Ethics, 4). Aristotle finds that only the wise know what true happiness is and it has to do with doing well for oneself, which can be interpreted differently from person to person. There is no exact thing Aristotle is relating to doing well, it’s more like one personally sets a goal or decides whether their life is good which translates into happiness. Maybe what Aristotle is saying isn’t that one will be continually happy with the position they are in in their life, but that one will be content with how their life is going and accept it, as in happiness depends on what a person does to make themselves happy. When a person usually thinks of anyone being happy they probably think of someone smiling or laughing while doing some kind of activity, but who is to say that is what happiness is? Happiness could just be getting out of a tough time in one’s life and being in a…
Epicurus says that Pleasure is what we pursue and, what we come back to, but for him pleasure stems from lack of pain. He believed that a life on moderation brought the most pleasure that over indulgence was unhealthy and brought pain. The simple things in life bring the most pleasure. He believed that mental pain was worse the physical pain. He explained mental pain a disturbance of the mind. He urged prudence in our pursuit of pleasures, and that all other virtues spring from it.…
Aristotle’s general ideology is that all things in the universe have a certain characteristic function that they can properly use to perform different types of tasks. Therefore the good that exists at all times must involve the interaction of human life and take it into consideration as a whole which must pertain to the soul and express genuine virtue. In Louis P. Pojman’s Philosophy the Quest for Truth, “The masses and cultured classes agree in calling it happiness and conceive that to live well or to do well is the same thing as to be happy,” meaning that politics and ethics seem to agree on living well and ethically is similar to happiness however they do not agree on what happiness actually is (522). In turn this means that humans should…
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…
People do get caught up in the pleasure that they are getting because the pleasure makes them happy. They start to get way into their pleasure that they are receiving and they forget about everything around them. As mentioned in the text, "But we also choose them for the sake of happiness, supporting that through the we shall be happy" (Aristotle, 8). We all want to be happy in some way, shape or form so we will do whatever it takes to be happy. It doesn't matter if it's by searching into the world to find that pleasure, eating for pleasure or creating a way to get pleased. In the text, “Let us grant that we must wait to see the end, and must then count someone blessed” (Aristotle, 13). When you have to try hard to stay happy, the happiness doesn't stay. As said in the text, "For we suppose happiness is enduring and definitely not prone to fluctuate, but the same person’s fortunes often turn to and fro” (Aristotle,…
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.…
As this world is composed of dualities, then the same pleasure can be good or bad depending on the context. For example: eating, taste is a sense of pleasure. But depending on what one eats and how much of it is what determines whether it is good or bad. Sex, if engaged for the purpose of procreation, is not bad, but if used only for indiscriminate enjoyment, then can be demeaning.This does not diminish the importance of other corrective observations of deviations that produce low or bad pleasures. Aristotle begins by noting that pleasure seems to be associated in a very intimate way to our own nature which explains, for example, how educators serve the concepts of pleasure and pain as basis to shaping children’s ethics. In this context, Aristotle, begs the question: covet life for the sake of pleasure or pleasure for the sake of life? According to Aristotle, one aspires to pleasure because of one’s desire to live, and since life is an activity and each person exercises in what he/she loves most, pleasure not only enhances the activity but life as well. Therefore, both life and pleasures share a link since there is no pleasure without activity, and pleasure perfects all…
The statement argues that Aristotle’s theory of the four causes is impossible to apply to everyday life and cannot be applied to the real world. Aristotle believed there are four causes that determine what things are and their purpose and claims this is how we differentiate one thing from another. These four causes are known as the material cause, the efficient cause, the formal cause and most importantly for Aristotle, the final cause, and these together describe how ‘things’ transform from the state of actuality to potentiality. To some extent the theory of the four causes could be accurate and plausible, however, some of the ideas behind it is flawed and unrealistic. In this essay I will cover the three main faults of Aristotle’s theory. Namely, its lack of clarity, that the theory is based on assumptions and that there is no evidence to support the existence of the prime mover.…
Epicurus’ argument depends on his particular understanding of pleasure. Pleasure can be thought of as a kind of feeling in itself, or as a way in which we experience various feelings or activities. Happiness in the latter sense, is not the result of feelings…
‘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)…
has more to do with character and the nature of what it is to be…
Before we go any further, let us first question what truly is happiness? Socrates who is known as the spiritual father of philosophy where by all school of thought rely on him said that happiness is being kept interested in the truth, making sure that the soul is as good as possible, For getting a good soul then one must maintain all four virtues including prudence, temperance, courage and justice.Aristippus who was a student of Socrates believed that we must seek external pleasures in order to be happy and not sad. He is the founder of hedonism which is a school of taught that argues that pleasure is the most important intrinsic good. Plato another famous student of Socrates said that the human soul consists of three parts: the reason, the will…
