The Book Of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

Aristotle is a very important philosopher which many other philosophers learn from. I too would use Aristotle’s teachings as the bases for my writing if I were a philosopher. The teaching that interests me the most is from his book of “Nicomachean Ethics”. In book 1 of this selection Aristotle says that all actions seek to do some good, which would lead to the highest good of happiness. He does not say that the actions must result in good but the activity of the action is good. In other words, as long as your intentions are good the product does not matter. I strongly agree with this because sometimes good intentions can end up with bad products. For instance if a gun, that was made in order to hunt animals for food is stolen and used to kill, …show more content…
Aristotle’s teachings suggest that as humans we live to reach happiness. Reaching happiness is reaching something that is immortal and self-sufficient. So essentially we live as humans longing for immortality. However, Epicurus teaches that we should remove “the longing for immortality” (Letter to Menoeceus, 32). He says that we should not want to live forever because only in death will we reach the highest good, which is pleasure. The action of dying is seen as the absence of pain which Epicurus says is pleasure. Death essentially brings pleasure and Epicurus says, “Pleasure is the starting point and goal of living blessedly” (Letter to Menoeceus, p 333). The reason that pleasure is the highest good according to Epicurus is because “every pleasure is a good thing, since it has a nature congenial nature [to us]” (Letter to Menoeceus, p 333). Pleasure is the highest good because it removes all the pain that is a result of human desire. When you indulge in pleasure, you satisfy your human …show more content…
Aristotle says pleasure is not a process so it does not take time, unlike happiness which is a process that we take time to achieve and is complete when we reach its ends (Nicomachean Ethics, p 321). Pleasure is in itself something whole but it does not take time to be pleased. Pleasure is present when the activity is complete but only for that moment. Pleasure from a certain activity does not last longer than for the moment in which the activity is completed. However, happiness is immortal and self-sufficient. Pleasure is a relative thing that arises due to “perceptual capacity”. This means that pleasure is dependent on the person who is judging being in the correct condition. This is why pleasure is not continuous, whereas happiness is. Pleasure is a human activity and “nothing human is capable of continuous activity” (Nicomachean Ethics, p