Aristotle Final Good Essay

Improved Essays
Aristotle theory is a better-quality conclusion when it comes to the desires individuals should have when it comes to their actions to create happiness; “the final good is thought to be self-sufficient” (Bailey and Martin, First, 418) says Aristotle, therefore, rejecting Mill saying that the final good is to be to create the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. Aristotle does not list out a bunch of rules on how to be virtuous, he states just to be a good person and you will then do good things. A good person is not selfish, but also is not inconsiderate to their peers, instead Aristotle states decisions are made by, “the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    He explains when making a decision the outcome should purely bring happiness. Mill states that we all usually do what makes us happy anyway so, we have personal standards on what is right and wrong. Aristotle says one should do good at all times.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Aristotle decided to take on the subject of the good in his Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle argues that every person must make a choice to act good. Within his ideas of the good it is imperative that men take responsibility for their own actions and that they understand what their own intentions are doing in relation to the good. However, there are some oppositions that believe this is not the case. They would argue that men have no control over how something appears to them or how they perceive it, and that for every man the final end/good/happiness looks differently.…

    • 1319 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    To conclude, Aristotle is a strong believer that in order to live a truly good life, a virtuous person is someone who performs the distinctive activity of being a human. Rationality is our unique activity, that is, the activity that characterizes us differently from animals. Since our rationality is our distinctive activity, its exercise is the supreme good. Moral virtue is simply a matter of performing well in the function of being human. In order to be virtuous, the end of human life could be called happiness (or living well).…

    • 185 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To Aristotle, character is defined by what outcomes or results use desire, the different types of actions we are enjoined to or prohibited from taking, and the habits we may be advised to cultivate within ourselves. For instance, we may feel obligated to pursue a life of duty through some sort of service, or we may feel concern for the public. The Greek ethical proposes, “What is good for man?”. Aristotle believes that ‘eudaimonia’, or happiness, is good for man.…

    • 132 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Even though Aristotle was not a direct student under Plato at The Academy, he became and developed into one of the most famous Greek philosophers. After his years spent at The Academy, Aristotle developed his moral of philosophy in his book the Nicomachean Ethics. In this book, Aristotle explains the origin, nature, and development of virtues, which are essential for achieving the best and highest good that human beings are capable of, which is happiness. According to Aristotle, happiness is defined as to live well and do well, where virtue is key, but alone it is not enough. In order to be happy, you need full virtue across a complete life, which means that you need to regularly perform all the virtues.…

    • 1602 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In The Politics, Aristotle questions the compatibility of commerce and “the good life,” a lifestyle involving political participation, financial independence, and philosophical thought that culminates in the fullest development of reason and other faculties (3). In particular, he contests the view of Solon, an Athenian politician and firm proponent of commerce and trade, who believed that “no bound to riches has been fixed by man” (11). Aristotle provides three reasons to combat Solon: the scarcity of all resources, the limitless greed of man, and the perversion of natural trade. He offers an alternative idea by stating the “instruments of any art are never unlimited,” the art here being wealth getting; thus, there is a bound to the riches…

    • 1511 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However, I disagree with Aristotle on what is happiness and how to achieve it. Instead of living a virtuous life, happiness, to me, means living a comfortable life filled with pleasure and love. I believe that happiness is the highest good because everything we do in life is in the pursuit of it. Like Aristotle states in Nicomachean…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To begin with, in Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses the ultimate good that he believes humans should focus on. Aristotle furthers his teleology by demonstrating the functional explanation of mankind’s good. He acknowledges that there are different types of good that each person seeks, for example, a doctor seeks the best he can in medicine and health, while a teacher might seek the best in learning and knowledge. Aristotle argues that all of these ends are not final though, only the chief good, or happiness, is the final goal put in place by the prime mover, or God.…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It states that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” Right away one can see that Mill has very different views than Aristotle. Mill believes that happiness is about pleasure while Aristotle believed it has about the ends that one makes in their lifetime. Mill also believed that morality is about promoting happiness for all while Aristotle is only concerned with the happiness of the beholder. An important piece for Mill’s argument is that of quantity versus quality.…

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To begin, Aristotle defines and contrasts both practical and theoretical wisdom. Practical wisdom is defined by Aristotle as being, “a truthful rational characteristic of acting in matters involving what is good for man” (Aristotle Ethics, pg. 154). In other words, practical wisdom is concerned with deciding what a good course of action for man is. On the other hand about theoretical wisdom, Aristotle writes, “a wise man must not only know what follows from fundamental principles, but he must also have true knowledge of the fundamental principles themselves. Accordingly, theoretical wisdom must comprise both intelligence and scientific knowledge”(Aristotle Ethics, pg. 156).…

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To a certain extent, Aristotle is similar in his philosophy to Mill, Aquinas, and Kant, but now completely. He also believes in a universal good in order to achieve happiness in life. According to Aristotle, mortality and good is understood in terms of a whole life. Contrary to Mill, Aquinas, and Kant, that understand moral obligation in terms of human individual actions, instead of examining a whole lifetime. According to Aristotle “good” can be found in many forms.…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Aristotle argues that certain things or conditions must be present to attain happiness, and in that “a certain sort of being-at-work of the soul in accordance with virtue” is required. I will argue that, for Aristotle, happiness cannot be the same as pleasure. However, we will see that happiness is importantly related to pleasure and pain, both in that the virtuous person comes to desire and finds satisfaction in acting virtuously, and in the sense that many of the virtues of character deal specifically with how we respond to our pleasures and pains. Since happiness is a certain way of being at work with virtues, Aristotle speaks of “virtues as pertaining either to thinking or to character”. Aristotle argues that all actions should point toward some good, as without virtue one cannot be happy, as the ability to be virtuous is unified within a good…

    • 1453 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Aristotle’s views on living well begin with a simple consideration of ends and means. Aristotle argued that as we mature, we act less aimlessly and more purposefully. That as we age we gain knowledge of the things we look forward to in life, the things we want in life, and how we plan to live our lives. He believed that we needed a plan and that the right plan is the one that aims at the final…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    There were contributions to the evolution of western civilization. Aristotle influenced so much more than a few books and teachings. He was a coined a philosopher. The student turned teacher even after death. Today’s western civilizations were not possible if not for the many influential ancient scholars.…

    • 1471 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Aristotle

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Aristotle is considered to be one of the most important thinkers in the philosophy history. In his book; The Politics, Aristotle mainly talks about the state and how it should be. He sees the state as an association. He believes that the state should be self-sufficient. However, he also explains the purposes of man, women and slaves.…

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays