Living Well Vs. Living Large: The Accounts Of Aristotle And Arendt

Living Well Vs. Living Large: The Accounts of Aristotle and Arendt

In today’s day and age, the concepts of living well and living large are commonly discussed in a capitalist society where economic prosperity seems to be at the forefront of people’s everyday lives. However, economics dates back to the Ancient Greek Empire where it carried a significantly different meaning and purpose. In Politics, Aristotle examines life in the ancient Greek system, and its divergence into two sectors: the public and the private realm. The private realm was the household; a place defined by necessity and ruled by the head of the house. The public realm, or the polis (a city that has a political association), was the place where total self-sufficiency occurred
We live in a society today where individuals preach the idea of the “American Dream.” A mindset and framework of beliefs that at its core seemingly promotes that unending economic gain is the goal in life. This idea promotes that living large is not necessarily a malicious concept, but is instead a worthwhile pursuit because we live in a capitalist society where riches are evident. This is a dangerous impression that we have today and should continue to be carefully examined. While Arendt’s somewhat modern-day accounts and Aristotle’s historical accounts of the ancient Greek empire might be outdated, the philosophical ideologies should still hold value to readers today. Living well should be a worthwhile objective to individuals in our world. As humans, we should attempt to satisfy our basic needs, but then find our true purpose in life, one that can actually provide positive change to the place where we live and have an impact on the people we live in community with. The act of accumulating wealth for its own sake and continuing through an unending cycle of cupidity can only lead to death. These great philosophical thinkers hold primitive ideologies about the city, household, and society; however, the systems they established hold weight for our own current lives. Their accounts are nonetheless convincing and should be continued to be deliberated about as we approach a world where economic prosperity and the unending desire to grow riches of many kinds seems inevitable. As I believe Aristotle and Arendt would want us to, we should continuously engage in the public realm and political sphere if we want to make a positive impact on the current world that we live in, instead of confiding to our private homes while indulging in materialistic and desirous