Nicomachean Ethics By Aristotle Analysis

Nicomachean Ethics, written by Aristotle, focuses on the good in life and how one can achieve it. The majority believe that things such as pleasure, wealth, and honor are considered happiness. However, the few cultivated people, the virtuous, understand that happiness comes from friendship, politics, and virtue. The virtuous who are after good can find it in happiness and politics; they also understand how these can work together to produce a prosperous life. The words and examples that Aristotle uses to explain his ideas on the good, happiness, virtue, and politics show that Aristotle has a specific audience in mind who can grasp what he is telling them, so the young minded and uneducated are excluded from the discussion. The virtuous are …show more content…
In the beginning of 1167a, Aristotle draws the comparison between goodwill and friendship. He explains to his audience the characteristics of goodwill. According to Aristotle, goodwill is not friendship or love because anyone can show this type of behavior towards a stranger. Goodwill can be the genesis of friendship, but it is not friendship in and of itself. Concord can be defined simply as political friendship. Aristotle parallels concord to a city; “A city, for instance, is in concord whenever al the citizens resolve to make offices elective, or to make an alliance with the Spartans, or to make Pittacus ruler” (1167a30-35). Only the virtuous can form this type of relationship in full. This is because most people seek personal benefits over the good of the community (1167b10-11). Aristotle addresses Plato’s definition of friendship in 1116b9b. Plato states that happiness is being self-sufficient, meaning that friends are not needed. However, Aristotle believes that “having friends seems to be the greatest good” (1169a3-4). A true friend gives rather than receives and cares about their companion. “The presence of friends would seem to be a mixture [of pleasure and pain]” (1171b1). The virtuous understand that a friendship entails bearing each other’s burdens. Apart of being in a friendship, a piece of happiness, is going through life with the people around him. One that lives a virtuous life understands …show more content…
Although the youth and uneducated might understand with some of Aristotle’s argument, they certainly do not get the full picture. Everyone is seeking for the good and life and there are many means to the end of good. Friendship and happiness are some necessities to reach this end. If Socrates was attempting to right to an audience of that included the young or uneducated people, he would have written his text in a way they understood. Socrates did not write with the intention of entertainment. His goal was to stimulate and hopefully motivate a certain group, the virtuous. He does not tell them how to live their live in Nicomachean Ethics, he simply makes strong suggestions. The ignorance of adolescence and lack of education omits them from unpacking, fully what Aristotle has to say. Aristotle reveals who his audience is, a group of peers. Those who can relate with the personal experiences that Aristotle uses, but they can also comprehend and follow Aristotle’s examples. The virtuous, by process of elimination, is the only group Aristotle could be speaking to because they are striving for the good and virtue in their life. Those who are striving for virtue is the audience of Aristotle because they are willing to listen and take into consideration what Aristotle has to