Aristotle Happiness

Aristotle defines happiness as doing well and living well, in accordance with reason. Such a definition appears to be vague and indeterminate, as it fails to provide us with clear instructions as to what we should be doing in order to be happy. In your view, is Aristotle correct in his understanding of happiness or is his theory of happiness futile?

What is happiness? How do we really achieve this ultimate good? Is it just by doing random actions that we like? In virtue ethics, Aristotle talks about the nature of ethics in relation to human nature, which helps us to live well in communities. Aristotle talks about the different types of virtues, intellectual and morale, whilst comparing them to each other in order to determine which of them …show more content…
Aristotle talks about virtues. He clearly highlights the difference between moral and intellectual virtues. An action must be done excellently, and consistently in order for it to be considered as virtuous. According to Aristotle, We do virtuous actions to achieve a greater good which is happiness. According to Macintyre, we achieve internal goods by performing certain actions excellently. Therefore, there definitely is a link between Aristotle and Macintyre on this point.

I have established above that happiness is not virtue. However, Virtue is needed in order to achieve happiness. Virtue is partly intellectual, and partly moral. Intellectual virtue is fostered naturally in our minds, and provides the faculty to understand logical reasoning. Moral virtue is the outcome of habit and is basically doing good actions deliberately. We practice doing brave actions, and we thereby become brave. We practice archery in order to become archers. the main objective is to become virtuous or good in action.
Then I have to ask myself what is a virtuous action? Aristotle creats a rule for ethical action. It is a theory called the golden mean. It measures the balance between the excess and deficiency of ones