Questions on the Achievability

Their personalities are such that they are drawn to decision-making posts. Good men may fall into disagreement over the exact course to tread. Other than this meager concession the happiness of the people in a city must be tempered with some sacrifice. The good life necessarily varies for each individual because each individual has a varying capacity for reason. Thus a level of reason that satisfies one might only be a quarter of what is necessary for another. While most wish for more material goods countless examples abound of people who are happy despite living in comparative poverty.

Many people would say that they are happy. Most people will not be able to reach the pinnacle of the best life. The majority will, however, be able to reach the good life. This is, however, contrary to the idea of a society, a group of people working together toward a common goal. That men are political creatures was taken for granted by Aristotle, this means that man is unlikely to remain happy for long when out of the company of other men. Likewise to attain the best life one must choose the balance between the procurement of pure reason (study) and the use of already acquired reason (life interaction) while maintaining an adequate supply of external goods. Therefore man must strike a balance between acting completely according to reason and acting in accord with the city, which is not necessarily the same thing. According to Aristotle men have differing amounts of virtue, those with more virtue will be more likely to attain the best life. In a democracy people are more likely to feel as though their opinions were at least taken into consideration.