Achieving Eudaimonia In Aristotle's Ideal City

In this rapidly growing world, technology has come to prevail. Technology has increased quickly in the field of communication through social media. Many people document every aspect of their lives on these social media sites for the world to acknowledge. Our population believes that this has made our society more sociable but in reality we are glued to our smartphones and there is hardly any human interaction anymore. Instead, there is a mass indulgence in vices such as greed, pride, and vanity due to fame and wealth that have arisen due to social media. In the Politics, Aristotle envisions his ideal city. He also argues the goods which a human must attain in order to achieve Eudaimonia. Some of this reasoning makes sense, though some of it is more debatable. There is no need for external goods in one’s quest for Eudaimonia; instead it can be replaced by a devotion to a religion.
In the Politics, Aristotle believed that a human could not flourish or achieve Eudaimonia apart from the city because “a human is by nature a political animal”. (p.290) Eudaimonia consists of rational activity in accordance with virtue. It must be desirable for its own sake, not desirable for the sake of something else, and everything must be desirable for its sake. A human being cannot achieve Eudaimonia away from the city for humans are social …show more content…
Goods of the soul involve having virtue, wisdom, education, and knowledge. Goods of the body can include good health, physical strength, and good looks. Finally, external goods include wealth, fame, and power. Aristotle argues that the goods of the soul are the greatest of the goods because they are ends in themselves while the external goods and the goods of the body are the means to that end. In Aristotle’s view, when one achieves all three of these goods, he has achieved Eudaimonia, the ultimate goal of practical