Aristotle's Ethics

Paper Summary:

This paper examines Aristotle's argument that the happiest life is the one in which a person does everything for philosophical contemplation. The philosopher contends that a life lived for the sake of morally virtuous activity is happy, though in a lesser sense. This paper explores the contents of Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics," in which the philosopher establishes the idea of a goal-directed activity as the concept necessary for an understanding of human goodness and excellence. This paper analyzes Aristotle's frequent use of the term Eudemonia, the Greek word for happiness. The writer of this paper contends and explains why eudemonia is constituted, in Aristotle's opinion, not by honor, or wealth, or power but by rational activity in harmony with excellence. This paper also focuses on Aristotle's lengthy dialogues on moral virtue and friendship and his evident admiration for the morally virtuous person, which led many to assume that human good is the exercise of practical and not theoretical virtue.

From the Paper:

"The best way to make sense of the notion is to observe happiness as something of a framework for all the other various goods that we aim for. We achieve eudaimonia with the correct ordering of such items, by imposing a pattern on our activities that gives all of them the fitting significance, by adopting a suitable hierarchy for all the different goods pursued by mankind. Therefore, eudaimonia consists of many different goods and will provide the general significance to all of them (providing a significant meaning to our lives). Eudaimonia is not achieved by actively seeking it. Rather, it is attained it by ordering our pursuit of all the other goods in the proper manner. Happiness, which is the highest and final goal of human existence, is, in other words, somewhat of a by-product of carrying out our pursuit of all the other goods (wealth, fame, learning, and so on) in the correct manner."

More papers on Aristotle's Ethics:

• Analytical Essay # 89112 : "Aristotle on Human Happiness"
• Comparison Essay # 9770 : "Aristotle and Plato's Soul and Knowledge"
• Book Review # 4141 : "Aristotle's "Nichomachean Ethics"
• Analytical Essay # 4418 : "Aristotle's Theory on Knowledge and Action"

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