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Aristotle's Thoughts on Happiness
by
Kenneth Shouler, Ph.D.
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- Aristotle said happiness comes from virtue
- Aristotle said happiness cannot be sensation
- Aristotle said happiness is peculiar to man
Aristotle explains that the doctor’s art aims at health, and the shipbuilder’s craft aims at a safe voyage. You could go further and say that the musician’s art aims at pleasing melodies and the sculptor’s art aims at a fine statue. But these kinds of ends have further ends or goods in view. But there must be some end that is ultimate. This ultimate good will be one you desire for its own sake. Men agree that this good is happiness, he says.
This means that a “right” action is one that promotes happiness. A wrong action is one that is opposed to the attainment of happiness.
But people understand different things by happiness. Some people identify happiness with pleasure, Aristotle says. But surely pleasure is not identical with happiness. For pleasure is fleeting and ephemeral; happiness is a more lasting good. Further, beasts can experience pleasure, so it is not a peculiarly human good.
Others equate happiness with honor, like the honor attained by a statesman. But this sort of honor depends more on the giver and is not really our own. By contrast, happiness must be something you can attain by your own activity. Nor can happiness be the activity of growth or reproduction, since even plants can do that much. Nor can happiness be equated with sensation, because even animals are capable of sensations.
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