Philosophy 105 - Politics and Society

Paraskevi(Vivian)Papas

Philosophy 105: Politics and Society

Throughout life, we all have moments of curiosity, moments when we begin to sit back and question everything. We question who we are, what we are doing, why we are here, why we are dealt with a certain hand of cards and what we want our lives to amount to. Although different people may have different answers to these questions, every person has one thing in common; in the end most people simply desire to be happy. Aristotle brings to the surface some of the most influential ideas about ethics in the famous Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle defines eudaimonia as the final goal in ones life, it is true happiness, true fulfillment. Eudaimonia is the human being's highest good. Virtue is excellence. Together the two tie in and Aristotle provides us with a view between the relationship of virtue and eudaimonia in the Nicomachean Ethics.

Every action we perform has a purpose and an aim, in other words all activities aim for a good, and every mean has a goal or an end. Every mean is a way to achieve an end; every activity is a way to reach a goal. Health being the end to medicine, a job being the end to paying bills, a good car being the end to car building and so on. Some ends however lead into other ends, making some ends means as well. People get an education in order to get a good job, they get a good job in order to pay their bills, they pay their bills in order to maintain a way of life and so on it goes until an end or a final good is reached, which for most people is to live a happy life. This highest good is an end that has no other end. This highest good is the achievement of true happiness, which Aristotle defines with the term eudaimonia. The being of human life is much more than merely satisfying pleasure and surviving. Human beings are gifted with the ability of ration and reason. The goal of human life is to reach eudaimonia. Eudaimonia or human flourishing is the ultimate end to the existence of being human. Eudaimonia is neither a pleasure nor a virtue; it is instead the use of reasoning and decision making with ones morality used to achieve happiness. Aristotle would argue that the purpose of the human life is so much more than survival. This most complete good is reached for its own sake, not aiming towards any other end. Aristotle shares with his audience that there are two types of goods, goods that are goods in and of themselves, and goods that are good because they either preserve or produce the first type of good. Happiness or eudaimonia is made up of things that can easily be confused as ends by themselves. Respect, honor, pleasure and wealth combined with other virtues and are subordinate to happiness but however not ends themselves. Happiness is a "principle", which is aimed at by various means, and is not a means itself. In order to reach happiness, we must first "grasp the function of a human being." In the end Aristotle finds that the human function is the "activity of the soul in accord with reason or requiring reason." Understanding the function of being human helps us understand virtue because the function of an excellent man "is to do this well and finely". Virtue is performing with excellence and performing well no matter what your function is. Many things can be virtuous from a human, to a pencil, to a chair or a car. Virtue is excellence, and a virtuous person is a person that uses rationality and knowledge to perform the function of a human being to his/her best potential.

Virtue or excellence plays a role in the achievement of eudaimonia. "And so the human good proves to be the activity of the soul in accord with virtue, and indeed with the best and most complete virtue, if there are more virtues than one." (1098a13) "Since happiness is a certain sort of activity of the soul in accord with complete virtue, we must examine virtue; for that will perhaps also be a way to study happiness better." (1102a5) Understanding and analyzing the virtue of the soul is crucial since it is believed that happiness is an activity of the soul. One part of the human soul is rational while the other part of the human soul is not. The part that causes growth and nutrition is not a key identifier to happiness. In fact, it is said that happy people and miserable people are the same for half of their lives because the virtue of one part of the soul is not specific to good or bad people. The other part of the soul is made up of desires, goals and wants that have both ration and non-rational parts. This is the part of the soul that varies from person to person. Happiness and virtue relate considering that

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