In each of the major ancient philosopher had their own defining virtue and happiness. The ancient philosopher covered in this essay will include Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans, and the Stoics. Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics hold happiness as the highest good and believe it is what we all seek in the end. The Epicureans hold a slightly different view, they find that happiness is pleasure, and pleasure is the highest good. Each of these individuals define happiness in their own way and also have happiness be either directly or indirectly influenced by virtue. The remainder of this essay will further explains how virute plays a role in happiness for each of the major ancient philosophers previously mentioned. In the Republic, Plato uses
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One of these movements included the Epicureans. They followed Epicurius who said, “that happiness, that is pleasure, consisted in performing right and moral actions for their own sake” (Cicero, 11). To be clear, the Epicureans held no distinction between happiness and pleasure. They believed that the highest good is static pleasure, which is the absence of all pain. In this system, virtue is merely a consequential good that is used to obtain pleasure. Cicero states, “then virtue and knowledge will turn out to be desirable in themselves, and that is something which Epicurius would utterly reject” (Cicero, 12). Cicero goes on to explain how each of the major virtuous lead to happiness. Justice brings pleasure because injustice is not worth the trouble. If one commits an unjust act, they can never be certain they will not be punished and they will live in fear of that punishment. Courage brings pleasure because one will not suffer the pain of fear, for example, the fear of death. Temperance allows us to act on wisdom, and wisdom allows us to choose which pleasures are worth going after. So, for the Epicureans, the virtuous allow us to obtain pleasure, and pleasure is
One of these movements included the Epicureans. They followed Epicurius who said, “that happiness, that is pleasure, consisted in performing right and moral actions for their own sake” (Cicero, 11). To be clear, the Epicureans held no distinction between happiness and pleasure. They believed that the highest good is static pleasure, which is the absence of all pain. In this system, virtue is merely a consequential good that is used to obtain pleasure. Cicero states, “then virtue and knowledge will turn out to be desirable in themselves, and that is something which Epicurius would utterly reject” (Cicero, 12). Cicero goes on to explain how each of the major virtuous lead to happiness. Justice brings pleasure because injustice is not worth the trouble. If one commits an unjust act, they can never be certain they will not be punished and they will live in fear of that punishment. Courage brings pleasure because one will not suffer the pain of fear, for example, the fear of death. Temperance allows us to act on wisdom, and wisdom allows us to choose which pleasures are worth going after. So, for the Epicureans, the virtuous allow us to obtain pleasure, and pleasure is