Explain Why Does Aristotle Think Happiness Is The Highest Good

Decent Essays
Why does Aristotle think happiness is the highest good?
Aristotle believes that the highest good must be “proper to a person” and that “it can’t be taken away”. An example is then provided on how being famous or being popular cannot be considered a highest good because of the fact that you have no control over it. The fame you have or the popularity you have can be given or taken away by the opinion of the public while happiness cannot be taken away. Aristotle then goes on to say, “If what you want is to be popular, you are saying to others: here, take my happiness; I put it into your hands”. Aristotle believes happiness is the highest good because it can’t be taken away from someone, like fame can be taken away from a person.
How does the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Augustine Vs Aristotle

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages

    (124) The good, according to Aristotle, is the means towards the end, which is happiness.(125-26) Happiness is “ an activity…

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Aristotle decided to take on the subject of the good in his Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle argues that every person must make a choice to act good. Within his ideas of the good it is imperative that men take responsibility for their own actions and that they understand what their own intentions are doing in relation to the good. However, there are some oppositions that believe this is not the case. They would argue that men have no control over how something appears to them or how they perceive it, and that for every man the final end/good/happiness looks differently.…

    • 1319 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Detailed Account of Aristotle’s Position on Happiness and why it is a Human Good According to Aristotle, happiness is an experience that is desired by all human beings. However, there are distinct views regarding what kind of life is considered happy. Aristotle provides readers with different types of lives that are believed to make people happy, including accumulation of wealth and a life of fulfillment that is characterized by comfort and pleasure. He also posits that a happy life is that which is pleasant.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Aristotle 's argument for the ultimate human good and how it relates to virtue is not so much a search for good for goods sake but for the highest good that a human being can ascertain in that persons experience and travels in life. So then how is it that Aristotle argument has validity to an over all understanding or relation to virtue? It is not an easy philosophical quandary to disseminate considering other philosophers have studied Aristotle 's teachings and spent the most part of their careers arguing against (in cases) this very prose.…

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    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…

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Happiness as by Aristotle means, “happiness depends on ourselves”. Aristotle felt that happiness was the central and reason to humanity. As well not just happiness but Aristotle had another thought, “virtue”, as explained in class virtue, meaning to have good morals and also good character. Being happy through ones lifetime, having good health, having healthy relationships and also being well off financially, having good knowledge and so on.…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However, I disagree with Aristotle on what is happiness and how to achieve it. Instead of living a virtuous life, happiness, to me, means living a comfortable life filled with pleasure and love. I believe that happiness is the highest good because everything we do in life is in the pursuit of it. Like Aristotle states in Nicomachean…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Happiness is final and self- sufficient, Aristotle says, and has a function for…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In philosophy there are many stands to take when it comes to a view of topic shared and discovered by many. Specifically, there are three philosophers that have differing ideas on the role of pleasure in morality, Aristotle, Kant, and Mill. They share and clarify their positions through a plethora of titles and information that will help a reader gain a better understanding of the role of pleasure in morality. Though each philosopher has their own share of ideas of what the highest good represents, they all believe in morality being the search for the highest good. Aristotle begins with his description of happiness as fulfillment of all desires, in accordance with compliance of virtue.…

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Happiness, as defined by Aristotle is the complete good for a human being. While this definition is generally accepted, views about what to…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nagel Moral Luck

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages

    He believes that happiness consists of being a virtuous person but also states that being a virtuous person requires you to not only have good qualities and characteristics but that you act on them. Without luck, you cannot develop a virtuous character. For example, to be caring you need to be in situations where people need to be cared for. Unless you practice the act of caring, you won’t develop that virtue. Aristotle writes that happiness “needs the external goods as well; for it is impossible, or not easy, to do noble acts without proper equipment” (Nelkin).…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    5). Aristotle introduces the concept of happiness in relation to the motive and purpose present for decision-making and choices. Happiness is associated to the good that ‘choice’ and ‘knowledge’ partially…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The ethical theories of both Aristotle and Epictetus, laid out in their books the Nicomachean Ethics and the Enchiridion, respectively, offer humanity insight into the most effective ways to achieve happiness and to exhibit virtue. Aristotle’s approach to happiness is that it must be looked at as the end to a means not as a means to an end. He feels that happiness should be viewed as the highest good within life. Although Epictetus agrees that happiness is the highest attainable good, he believes that the source of humanity’s misery is people’s inability to differentiate between what they can control and what they cannot. While both philosopher’s theories emphasize the importance of happiness and virtue in a person’s life, Epictetus’ view…

    • 1309 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It’s safe to assume that most people strive to be happy in their life. Individual happiness can be defined in a number of ways, for many people wealth is the answer to becoming happy while others may view health as an important component to happiness. Seneca, a wealthy and notable philosopher during the Roman Imperial period, does not consider wealth nor health as essential to our own happiness. Instead, he regards virtue alone as being sufficient for happiness (Vogt 2016). Aristotle, on the other hand, does not regard happiness as a human feeling but he views it more as an objective state or an achievement (Aristotle on Eudaimonia).…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The philosophers Aristotle and Augustine both wrote extensively on what they believed happiness was and how to achieve the good life. However, both prolific thinkers had differing opinions on achieve this goal. For example, Aristotle believed that the path to the good life was obtained through reason; whereas Augustine believed that it was obtained through Scripture and Divine Revelation because God’s grace helps one to achieve the good life, but reason alone is not enough to get that. In Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle shares his belief that the way to a good life, which he refers to as happiness, is achieved through reason.…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays