The Role Of Happiness In Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics

The assigned readings provided an interesting view of the diverse groups of people who migrated to California during the Gold Rush in the late 1840s and early 1850s and how they impacted society. The primary sources shared detailed information of how Californian society was grew and developed new rules and regulations for mining operations. The sources also discussed how American pioneers and people from different countries shared their experiences during the Gold Rush. Equally important, as Californian society increased, many Yankee miners became concerned about the arrival of foreigners in California (Textbook, 201). California state legislators enforced the Miners' Licensee of 1850 and 1852 that required foreigners to purchase specific mining licenses in order for them to mine (Miners' Document, 33).

To begin, one must learn what happiness means to Aristotle. He considers happiness to be simply the name of the good life. This is not to say that the good life produces

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics presents this idea: finding the best way to achieve good, which is happiness, or euphoria. To achieve that, a person should find peace with where they are, find joy in their actions, and a person can do that through contemplation and reasoning. Aristotle concluded that, in Book VII of Nicomachean Ethics, just as things have an intent for which they are created, or a task that the thing is known to execute, human beings must also have an end purpose. Humans have distinct necessities and rely on certain people. For example, humans rely on a carpenter and a leather worker because both work toward crafting and using shaping techniques to achieve certain geometric shapes, as mentioned by Aristotle: “Then do the carpenter and the leather worker have their functions and actions, but has a human being no function?

The definition of happiness has long been disputed. According to Aristotle, happiness is the highest good and the ultimate end goal—for it is self-reliant. This idea contradicted other common beliefs and philosophical theories. Aristotle opens his work by describing the various theories, neutrally examines each idea, and discloses how he thinks the theory is wrong and why his idea of happiness is more accurate.

This paper will focus on Aristotle’s claim that happiness is an activity and not just a momentary pleasure. Skeptics claim happiness is a state of mind and Aristotle is wrong to claim that happiness is an ongoing pursuit a person must actively strive for during one’s life. This paper argues that Aristotle is correct when he states that happiness is an activity, the central purpose of human life and a goal in itself that individuals strive for throughout the entirety of their lifetime and ultimately attain rather than a feeling a person experiences at any given moment. First, Aristotle’s view of happiness will be explained and then I will present objections to Aristotle’s claim that happiness is an activity. Lastly, I will address the

In my definition of happiness, happiness is when someone who experiences frequent positive emotions. These emotions can all be illustrated with joy, interest, and pride. An unhappy person often portrayed negative emotions, such as anger and sadness.

“Happiness in particular is believed to be complete without qualification, since we always choose it for itself and never for the sake of anything else. Honour, pleasure, intellect, and every virtue we do indeed choose for themselves (since we would choose each of them even if they had no good effects), but we choose them also for the sake of happiness, on the assumption that through them we shall live a life of happiness; whereas happiness no one chooses for the sake of any of these nor indeed for the sake of anything else.” ( Aristotle 10-11) Aristotle is the other view of happiness that will be discussed. With him and the Stoics, they are both kind of similar due to both believe in virtue for happiness, Aristotle says virtue a different way and other ways about happiness. Aristotle along with the Stoic’s believe that virtues is the same, but Aristotle says this about virtue “and if we take this kind of life to be activity of the soul and actions in accordance with reason, and the characteristic activity of the good person to be to carry this out well and nobly, and a characteristic activity to be accomplished well when it is accomplished in accordance with the appropriate virtue; then if this is so, the human good turns out to be

Happiness is not the same to all people, depending on what kind of morals and ethics they have or what religion they followed. Aristotle’s definition of happiness “is a certain activity of the soul in accordance with perfect virtue.” (pg651) Aristotle used his power and greatness to influence others on the virtues and benefits of ethics and good morals. Some have different ideas on what happiness is to them. It could be money or possession, honor, pleasure, reason or health.

Aristotle argues things people do aims at some end or end. The highest end to all of these things is attaining happiness. I maintain that it is impossible for a human being to be happy according to Aristotle's definition due to the fact that he sets strict conditions of perfect virtue thus happiness.

“Remember that all things are lawful to me” (Tranquillus). These words by Gaius Caesar Germanicus, more commonly known as Caligula, epitomize the corruption caused by absolute power. Under his rule, the Roman treasury was emptied, people suffered from seemingly random acts of brutality, and Rome was ruled by an emperor who thought of himself as a god. Similarly, in the novel Animal Farm, the Manor Farm is taken over by its four-legged inhabitants. Their equal government is soon taken over by a power-hungry leader, a young boar named Napoleon.

Aristotle introduced his theory of life and definition of happiness in “Nicomachean Ethics”. He states “Now such a thing happiness, above all else, is held to be for this we choose always all else, is held to be; for this we choose always for itself and never for the sake of something else, but honour, pleasure, reason, and every virtue we choose indeed for themselves, but we choose

Happiness is not a strange term to us. We usually use that word to express our feelings in every day. Additionally, more than a word, “happiness” is what we really need and always seek in life. However, finding and understanding deeply its meaning is not easy. The online dictionary, “vocabulary.com” defines, “Happiness is a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. When people are successful, or safe, or lucky, they feel happiness.” Thus, we always wonder if we are happy or how could we be happier in our life. Happiness, therefore, becomes a goal for everybody.

In this paper, Aristotle’s ethics of happiness and how happiness and reason relate to one another from Nicomachean Ethics will be discussed. For one to understand Aristotle’s point of view, one must first understand the meaning of good and happiness. If an individual is asked to explain what is good, they may simply begin to list out items that are good. Aristotle explained that a person can easily compose a list of good things like, it is good to have friends or to be healthy. What Aristotle meant by what is good is the search for the highest good. The highest good is divided into three different characteristics. The three characteristics are chief good which is the main goal that all actives aim to, then Eudaimonia which means

Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher who was taught by Plato, and taught Alexander the Great. In his writings, Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle states that happiness is a way of walking through life, and is a complete and self-sufficient activity (pg. 8). This means that happiness is whole because you choose happiness for the sake of happiness, not just because it is the better of two options. Happiness is self-sufficient for the same reasoning. While I do agree that happiness is complete and self-sufficient, I do not believe that it is necessarily an activity. I feel that happiness is more something you feel in a moment, not something that you do. Aristotle also says that happiness is based on virtues, and habituation of them (pg. 19-20). A virtue is a good act that is done with the right reasoning and intent. He says that when you do something virtuous and you repeat the action, it becomes second nature which means that it becomes easier to

Aristotle believed that the goal of all human life is to achieve ultimate happiness. Happiness is the final Utopia or the end of “a life worth living.” Human instinct is characterized by achieving personal fulfillment, thus leading to happiness. Aristotle warns against going astray and “preferring a life suitable to beasts” by assuming happiness and pleasure are equal. Living a life preferred by beasts incapacitates a person from achieving the end Utopia. Even though Aristotle does not equate the two, he does stress that minimal pleasure is required to achieve happiness. Someone lacking in vital necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter are not capable of achieving happiness due to their lack of pleasure.