Aristotle
In this paper I will explain thoroughly happiness and I will also examine the question of whether a person can be called happy before their death. First I will examine how Aristotle came to the conclusion that happiness is what human actions should ultimately strive for. Aristotle first starts off by explaining why every human action strives towards a certain good or perfection. The morally good action is the moderate action between excess and deficiency. For instance, liberality would be the best action between prodigality and thriftiness. Also, the intellectually best action would be perfection of a certain skill. For example, an architect would want to master house building. He then makes it clear that human action, if it to be of any use, has to have an ultimate goal where everything else is performed for the sake of it. Human life has to have a final aim or man is just a victim of endless desires that never reach completion. Aristotle sums this up with an analogy, "Shall we not, like archers who have a mark to aim at, be more likely to hit upon what is right?" Then He concludes the first section of book 1 by saying that politics has to be the art of this final goal, because politics will se
As Aristotle so eloquently said in the ethics, "Verbally there is a general agreement; for both the general run of men and people of superior refinement say that it is happiness, and identify living well and doing well with being happy; but with regard to what happiness is they differ. People who have this sort of virtue fall short of being fully virtuous though because they did not have to work for it. A man always in pursuit of honor would try to achieve honor at all costs in attempts to be praised, which would only lead to misery and further disappointment. But, a person who lives a virtuous life that is hit with a streak of bad luck will be able to deal with it better then a person operating on only luck alone. A happy person is one who leads a life in which they are content with their actions. They said that happiness is contingent on living a good life. So then to be Aristotelian, what is luck? Aristotle defines luck in terms of a lucky person. Happiness is in the realm of things that are prized not praised. The soul makes the body of humans unique, not the other way around. Aristotle is a firm believer that the good life can only be met if we perform morally right actions until they become habitual. The man-seeking honor is not seeking his own happiness, but rather for other people to view him as an honorable leader. Furthermore, "the good or bad fortunes of friends then, seem to have some effects on the dead, but effects of such a kind and degree as neither to make the happy unhappy not to produce any other change of the kind. ek it for all, not just an individual. Therefore, happiness is the final cause of action for a human being. A virtuous person is not able to attain happiness on virtue alone, but he or she needs that extra-added push of external goods and luck.
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