Aristotle's View Of Happiness

A Response To Aristotle 's View of Happiness . Aristotle argues that the most important thing in peoples lives is the virtue of happiness. He writes that one attains happiness by living a life of virtue - "He is happy who lives in accordance with complete virtue and is sufficiently equipped with external goods, not for some chance period but throughout a complete life."(Aristotle) A life of virtue implies a life of reasoning for the end goal of doing what is good. Human good is fulfilling and most desirable, therefore human good in life correlates with virtue. Happiness is a belief. Similar to other beliefs, it is prone to contain fallacies and delusions. Aristotle says that happiness is an end, or the result of things a person does. The …show more content…
When he talks about human good, he is referring to the highest of human good. He assumes that this highest form of good has three qualities; that it’s desirable for itself, that it isn 't desirable for the purpose of another good, and that any other goods are desired for its sake. This is wrong in the case that it is possible for someone to achieve happiness by having other good things in their life. More specifically, a specific person can attain happiness through power, honor, and wealth. When these things are taken away from the individual, he isn’t happy, therefore the “other goods” help the individual reach Aristotle 's end goal of happiness. Without the other goods, a persons happiness starts depending on the other goods in order for the person to be happy, so we can deduce that happiness does indeed depend on other …show more content…
It is quite possible in certain situations for someone to have a good life while still lying in the world. For example, in a scenario in which you are forced to lie to someone in order to save someone else, you wouldn 't be considered morally virtuous to Aristotle or happy, yet you would need to commit the lie in order to save them and in turn achieve happiness. If we assume this to be correct, then Aristotle is at fault in saying that with no exception, you have to be morally virtuous to achieve the end goal of being happy. This kind of situation is a lot more prevalent than one might think. Additionally choosing one moral virtue over another shouldn 't necessarily mean that you will be more or less happy with the outcome of the virtue. If moral virtue is arbitrary in the equation, then the question of what is truly entailed in finding out how to be happy is raised. In fact there are particular virtues and traits that are are essential in society today that guarantee a happy life. Self content, conformity, patience, and self insurance are all examples of these traits, that are very important in the attainment of happiness. Without self acceptance and acceptance of reality, it would be hard to be happy in life anyways. Moral virtue is very important in life, however it cant, and shouldn 't rule our lives. Moreover, having character that is of the good nature suggests that you