Aristotle and Mill on Happiness and Moral Behavior Comparison Essay by Nicky

Aristotle and Mill on Happiness and Moral Behavior
An examination of the views of Aristotle and Mill on happiness and moral order.
# 144995 | 863 words | 3 sources | APA | 2010 | US
Published on Oct 22, 2010 in Philosophy (Ancient Greek) , Political Science (Mill, John Stuart) , Philosophy (Ethics)


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Description:

The paper looks at Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics" and John Stuart Mill's "Utilitarianism" and discusses the similarities in their respective views. The paper explains why Mill's application of the Nicomachean principles to a comparably modern context is appealing to many. The paper asserts that Aristotle's and Mill's respective views on happiness, moral order and ethical rights are both important to the discourse on the topic.

From the Paper:

"Mill and Aristotle seem to share some views. For example, a common ground manifests in a convincing argument in favor of the concept of 'happiness' as something which must ultimately, while occupying innumerable incarnations, be at the crux of any thought or action. As we consider Aristotle's conception of just human relationships in his Nicomachean Ethics, it is clear that both arguments are predisposed to an interest in the collective or shared availability of happiness in the end result of a process or interaction.
"Aristotle recognizes the variances which appear to define our establishment of the means to pursuing happiness, musing that "the characteristics that are looked for in happiness seem also, all of them, to belong to what we have defined happiness as being. For some identify happiness with virtue, some with practical wisdom, others with a kind of philosophic wisdom, others with these, or one of these, accompanied by pleasure or not without pleasure; while others include also external prosperity." (Aristotle, I: 8) Aristotle uses this as a divining rod for dissecting the various relationships which are perpetuated amongst men, associating happiness and morality."

Sample of Sources Used:

  • Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, translated by W.D. Ross. The Internet Classics Archive.Online at <http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.1.i.html>
  • Mill, J.S. (1863). Utilitarianism. Parker & Sons, and Bourn. Internet Archives. Online at http://www.archive.org/details/a592840000milluoft
  • Mill1,, John Stuart. (1838). Bentham. London and Westminster Review. Online at http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/bentham/bentham

Cite this Comparison Essay:

APA Format

Aristotle and Mill on Happiness and Moral Behavior (2010, October 22) Retrieved September 28, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/comparison-essay/aristotle-and-mill-on-happiness-and-moral-behavior-144995/

MLA Format

"Aristotle and Mill on Happiness and Moral Behavior" 22 October 2010. Web. 28 September. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/comparison-essay/aristotle-and-mill-on-happiness-and-moral-behavior-144995/>

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