Comparing Aristotle's And The Stoics View Of Happiness

I will be comparing and contrasting Aristotle’s and the Stoics’ view of human happiness, and using these theories and views, examining if bodily and external goods are necessary to happiness, and to be able to back up why it either is or is not necessary. The two had many similarities, and differences that can be expanded. The Stoics believed our happiness was based off one thing entirely, and that is virtues. Aristotle breaks down how happiness is the highest possible good. Aristotle wrote the Nicomachean Ethics in 350 B.C. He starts off by writing “Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.” …show more content…
A practice of Stoicism is morning meditation. You take ten minutes when you wake up and think about things that could go wrong. Maybe you get in an accident, and have serious complications from that accident, then you just accept what has happened and think of it as something that has just happened, and of doing this you will be prepared to accept any negative things that happen to you. This is the main point of the Stoics Teachings. The term “shit happens” is very relative to this. Bad things happen in our life everyday, and we are often left with the question of why? Why did this happen? Why me? I get chronic migraines quite often, and there are an amount of times when I am sitting there in an unimaginable amount of pain, wondering why me. Then also at times I am able to sit there and I just accept it. When I have this mentality, it makes everything that happens a little easier. I agree with this mentality in a lot of cases. Sometimes there is not a why to something happens like Aristotle argues. Accepting the good and the bad as they come into your life will lead you to ultimate happiness, because if you have no sadness or disappointment in your life, then you will be