Aristotle's Virtue Argument

This paper will assess the validity in Aristotle’s claim that happiness is the supreme good of human activity and will also examine the distinction between happiness, as the means of living the good life, and virtue. Aristotle, in The Nicomachean Ethics, argues, when assessing this difference, that happiness is attained only through the cultivation of the virtues evolving to formulate a sufficient and complete life. Aristotle further notes that human beings should aim at to live a life in accordance with one’s rational natures and the satisfaction of desires, to achieve a virtuous state. This paper will examine the critical ideas associated with Aristotle’s definition of virtue, and analysis of the methodology in which Aristotle came to the argument will be used to formulate a defence for the ideas. However, a reflection on the validity of Aristotle’s virtue argument will showcase the non-deductive nature of his argument. This will be proven through an analysis of ambiguous definitions to illustrate the unsound relation of the premises to the conclusion. …show more content…
Thus, this paper will assess the validity of Aristotle’s argument and will arrive to the conclusion that the premises, though arbitrary in nature, are true, however, the argument presented in The Nicomachean Ethics is non-deductive, as it relies only on providing substantial reasoning to believe the