ARISTOTLE

Happiness and the Good Life

Life of Aristotle

Student of Plato (another Greek philosopher)

Interested in learning about and reflecting on the natural sciences (botany, physics, biology, astronomy, psychology)

Established his own school, called Lyceum Was a personal tutor for Alexander (who

later conquered much of the world)

Virtue Ethics: Becoming a Virtuous Person

Ethics must be concrete and practical Virtue ethics focuses on the moral

quality of individuals, or how to be a good person

Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.E.): in order to become a virtuous person one must develop a virtuous character.

Becoming a Virtuous Person

A virtuous person is a happy person. What counts is the experience of

particulars and not just the knowledge of what is universally true.

There is no single science of ‘good’ We find multitude of goods: good

medicine, good generalship, good politics Each good has its own end, and each

must be judged in terms of the good it aims at.

Becoming a Virtuous Person

In ethics, it’s not just the theoretical that counts, but also the practical:

“The ultimate purpose in studying ethics is not as it is in other inquiries, the attainment of theoretical knowledge; we are not conducting this inquiry in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, else there would be no advantage in studying it.” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Bk, 2, Ch 2)

What is it to ‘become good’? When we do something, we always have some

end in view This end is always good (no one strives for

something they consider bad) We often do something for the sake of another But this can’t go on forever. What we want is

to find some end, which we value for its own sake.

If we find that final end, we need to keep that before our eyes, as a target, so it would guide our lives.

What is it to ‘become good’? What is this final end, which is our target? Aristotle’s term is ‘eudaemonia’

Happiness Well-being Flourishing

What is happiness?

Everyone wants to be happy. This is the end, our final goal. All other things we do for something else’s sake. We seek only happiness for its own sake.

But what is happiness? Pleasure? - not just that Amusement? – not that Fame and Honor? – not that either

Function (Telos) of Human Beings The function of a flute player is to play flute and

we judge her to be good in terms of that. What is the function of human beings? It is the ACTIVITY OF SOUL in

ACCORDANCE WITH REASON or AT LEAST NOT WITHOUT REASON.

Function of Human Beings

The soul is the essence of a living human being

Humans are being human when are acting in human ways.

We have a rational soul so our function is to live accordingly: to live according to our rational souls

But an excellent human life is NOT purely an intellectual pursuit. We need to develop both intellectual virtues and moral virtues – that pertain to our social and physical aspects.

Happiness and Virtues

Happiness is not possible without virtues Virtue = ARETE (in Greek) Some virtues that are necessary for

happiness: Wisdom Pleasure (because the lives of those

who live rationally with excellence are pleasurable)

We also need a certain amount of good fortune (happiness is not entirely in your control)

Happy Life

A happy life is a life of activity

Happiness is not something that happens to you. It’s not passive.

It’s the activity of your soul in accordance with excellence.

Becoming a Virtuous Person

To be moral requires that you know what you are doing, deliberately choose to do it, and do it as an example of a settled and immutable moral state.

** Finding the proper balance between two extremes.Excess: having too much of something.Deficiency: having too little of something.

Not mediocrity, but harmony and balance.

Virtue is to seek the mean, or middle ground, between vices.

vice viceVIRTUE

Virtues and Vices

Cowardice – Courage – Foolhardiness Inhibition – Temperance – Overindulgence Stinginess – Generosity – Profligacy Shabbiness –Magnificence – Vulgarity Standoffishness – Friendliness- Obsequiousness Shyness – Proper pride – Vanity Celibacy – Monogamy – Promiscuity Dullness – Well-roundedness – Wildness Sarcasm – Truthfulness – Boastfulness Shamelessness – Modesty - Shamefacedness

VirtueVice Vice

Learned Virtues

For Aristotle, virtue is something that is practiced and thereby learned—it is a habit (hexis).

This has clear implications for moral education, for Aristotle obviously thinks that you can teach people to be virtuous.

Think about it: What do you think is the function

(telos) of a human being? What is the distinctive quality of

being human? How does pleasure come into a

good life? Can you teach people to be

virtuous? Is it true that the ability to reason

is unique to humans? Can wicked people still act

reasonably by avoiding extremes?