Chapter 8: Happiness and Virtue
Chapter 8: Happiness and Virtue
Amazon Reference:
Quote:
“Happiness then is the best, noblest, and most pleasant thing in the world.”
What I expect to learn:
I expect to learn about how happiness and virtue are linked to morality in Aristotle’s view. Also, on the importance of happiness as a motivation to do acts.
Review:
Aristotle says that what we should seek are those things that we aspire for itself and not because they lead us to seek something else. These are what he calls “final”. These are the things that don’t leave us hanging and wanting for more. When we achieve these, we are in a state of contentment and not just for a moment but for a considerably longer amount of time. One such final thing is happiness which all men seek probably above everything else. Even if we seek other things such as honor, pleasure, or wealth, we are not content with just them because they are not final. We usually aspire for these things because they lead us to be happy and content, and only then will we stop seeking for other things because happiness is final. Here, we can see how Aristotle’s notion of happiness is similar to utilitarianism. Although Aristotle does not equate happiness with good actions, it is still seen as the desirable end to which all humans aspire.
But seeking happiness is only one thing; actually acquiring it is another story. According to Aristotle, happiness can only be achieved by acting in accordance with virtue. Thus, he says that happiness can only achieved by doing acts that are good and evil acts do not bear happiness as fruit. Therefore we can say that a man who does not do good cannot achieve happiness. That may be why criminals continue doing evil acts because they aspire for happiness but cannot achieve it, and as a result commit crimes, thinking that they may actually help them acquire it.
But after knowing what happiness is, do we really have a clear notion of what virtue is? Aristotle defines virtue as a mean between excess and deficiency. He maintains his ideal of Moderation even in his consideration of what can be regarded as virtuous. Virtue has two kinds, moral and intellectual. With the former coming from training and habit while the latter is found in the activity of reason or contemplation. Aristotle also claims that the most perfect happiness can be found in the latter form of virtue. Aristotle, consistent with the philosophical movement of the time, formulated his view of happiness and virtue as ingredients to living a good moral life around his idea of Moderation and the idea of many philosophers that only they can achieve true happiness because of their higher intellectual enlightenment. Aristotle’s idea of happiness thus emphasizes the contentment of intellectual aspirations rather than that of physical pleasure.
What I learned:
- That happiness is the ultimate goal of many.
- That happiness can only be achieved by men of virtue.
- That virtue has two kinds, moral and intellectual, and that the latter allows a person to experience the most perfect kind of happiness.
Integrative Questions:
- What is happiness?
- What is virtue?
- How are the two related to each other and to the study of morality?
- Why is a life of pleasure undesirable to Aristotle?
- Why do intellectual virtues offer perfect happiness and not moral virtues?
