Similarities Between Aristotle And St. Thomas Aquinas On Happiness

“Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy”. By taking a look at various definitions of the term happiness and studying how human beings approach it, we as a society can understand how happiness or lacking it affects us. Both philosophers Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas describe, in their own words, what happiness means to them and how they think it should be obtained. In the book Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explains how happiness is a type of flourishing or being successful in life. In Summa Theologica, Aquinas ultimately turns his focus to God and believes to be happy you need to give everything up to God. Both philosophers have their own different views on happiness to compare and contrast, so I will be addressing one similarity and one difference between Aristotle and Aquinas on happiness. The third Philosopher that I will address is Al-Ghazali, an Islamic philosopher, who wrote Deliverance from Error. In his writing he explains this real and deep doubt arising and.Al-Ghazali, a teacher, was a God orientated …show more content…
Aquinas believes happiness is found through God. Although Aquinas’ view is more of finding happiness through god, Al-Ghazali practically gives himself to god making himself happy. He discusses the fact that fortune and fame keep him removed from God (Al-Ghazali, 19). This goes against what Aristotle has to say about happiness coming from external goods such as money. Al-Ghazali starts to turn his focus slowly to God and denies everything including his own family (Al-Ghazali, 20). Again, this goes against Aristotle’s statement saying happiness comes from required goods of the soul and body like family and friends. Al-Ghazali would then find Aristotle’s view weaker due to the fact that every point Aquinas makes goes against