Hartnett 1
Hallie Hartnett
Dr. Skrzypek
Search for Truth
27 November 2017
The Best End of Human Life
In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explores the nature of happiness and offers his own account of what sort of life he thinks best achieves this.
In this book Aristotle focuses on two important questions the first being
“what is happiness?” and the second being “what sort of life should we live if we want to achieve that happiness?” Keeping these questions in mind I will discuss Aristotle’s definition of happiness and some of the lifestyles that he believes will ultimately lead to a happy life. In addition to this question, I will list a few of the major candidate lives, which candidate he thinks is best, and why he rejects the others.
To …show more content…
The first part of the definition is excellence which can be achieved by fulfilling your function in life. “For we praise the just person and the courageous one-in fact, the good person and his virtue general-because of his actions and his works, also the strong person and the good runner, and so on in each of the other cases, because he is naturally of a certain quality and stands in a certain relation to something good or excellent” (I 12). In this quote, Aristotle explains that excellence is achieved by being virtuous and fulfilling your function and purpose in life. This quote also leads into the second part of Aristotle’s definition which is activity. Activity is both the act of fulfilling your purpose in life and doing virtuous deeds. Aristotle claims that without activity we would not reach complete life and therefore wouldn’t be able to reach happiness. The third part of the definition given by Aristotle is of the soul. “Since happiness is some activity of the soul” …show more content…
I find that this argument is important in answering the question of how to live a happy life and even though this argument was written a long time ago I believe it’s still valid in today’s day and age.
In conclusion, Aristotle’s argument in Nicomachean Ethics talks about the definition of happiness and how one can live a happy life. The definition
Hartnett 6 given in the book is broken up into six crucial parts: excellent, activity, of the soul, involving reason, in accord with virtue, and over a complete life.
After defining happiness Aristotle evaluates several important lifestyles that are evident in society and determines which are worthy of a happy ending and in the end, finds that only the life of active virtue and the contemplative life are worth living. After evaluating the structure, I found that he used hypothetical syllogism making his argument valid and after reviewing his premises I also discovered that they are true, therefore making the argument sound. All in all, this is still a culturally relevant book that has stood the test of time and is still relevant in today’s world.
Hartnett
Hallie Hartnett
Dr. Skrzypek
Search for Truth
27 November 2017
The Best End of Human Life
In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explores the nature of happiness and offers his own account of what sort of life he thinks best achieves this.
In this book Aristotle focuses on two important questions the first being
“what is happiness?” and the second being “what sort of life should we live if we want to achieve that happiness?” Keeping these questions in mind I will discuss Aristotle’s definition of happiness and some of the lifestyles that he believes will ultimately lead to a happy life. In addition to this question, I will list a few of the major candidate lives, which candidate he thinks is best, and why he rejects the others.
To …show more content…
The first part of the definition is excellence which can be achieved by fulfilling your function in life. “For we praise the just person and the courageous one-in fact, the good person and his virtue general-because of his actions and his works, also the strong person and the good runner, and so on in each of the other cases, because he is naturally of a certain quality and stands in a certain relation to something good or excellent” (I 12). In this quote, Aristotle explains that excellence is achieved by being virtuous and fulfilling your function and purpose in life. This quote also leads into the second part of Aristotle’s definition which is activity. Activity is both the act of fulfilling your purpose in life and doing virtuous deeds. Aristotle claims that without activity we would not reach complete life and therefore wouldn’t be able to reach happiness. The third part of the definition given by Aristotle is of the soul. “Since happiness is some activity of the soul” …show more content…
I find that this argument is important in answering the question of how to live a happy life and even though this argument was written a long time ago I believe it’s still valid in today’s day and age.
In conclusion, Aristotle’s argument in Nicomachean Ethics talks about the definition of happiness and how one can live a happy life. The definition
Hartnett 6 given in the book is broken up into six crucial parts: excellent, activity, of the soul, involving reason, in accord with virtue, and over a complete life.
After defining happiness Aristotle evaluates several important lifestyles that are evident in society and determines which are worthy of a happy ending and in the end, finds that only the life of active virtue and the contemplative life are worth living. After evaluating the structure, I found that he used hypothetical syllogism making his argument valid and after reviewing his premises I also discovered that they are true, therefore making the argument sound. All in all, this is still a culturally relevant book that has stood the test of time and is still relevant in today’s world.
Hartnett