Aristotle, Virtue and Happiness

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the perspective that Aristotle brings to bear on the (for Greeks) twinned concepts of happiness and virtue. It looks at how the Greeks would have argued that both happiness and power derive from virtue and how the quest for a fulfilled life does not have to be seen in terms of a trade-off between doing good and doing well. It analyzes how Aristotle argues that happiness is one of the chief activities of the human soul, along with rationality and therefore it is virtuous both to be rational and to be happy.

From the Paper:

"One of the most important of all questions for the classical Greek philosophers was how to define virtue: This is true not only of Aristotle but of many of his contemporaries. However, when we read Aristotle, we see this idea is almost a consuming passion of his. While we should not assume that Aristotle was not in fact a man very much concerned with doing the right thing and being a good person, we must also bear in mind that for a philosopher like Aristotle the concept of virtue was a much broader area of concern " as well as action in the world " than the term is for us today."

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