Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Aristotles Ethics Essay - 1754 Words

The Humanities represent mans concern with man and with the human world. In that concern there is no more important problem than the age-old one which was first discussed systematically here, in Greece, more than two thousand years ago. The problem I refer to, which the ancient Greek philosophers thought deeply about, is this one: What makes a human life good -- what makes it worth living and what must we do, not just merely to live, but to live well? In the whole tradition of Western literature and learning, one book more than any other defines this problem for us and helps us to think about it. That book of course is Aristotles Ethics, written in the fourth century before Christ. Aristotle was a student of Plato. Plato had founded the†¦show more content†¦But is this happiness the same for all men? Is each of us pursuing the same goal when we try to live in such a way that our lives will be happy ones? To answer these questions it is necessary to understand the meaning of happiness -- what constitutes a happy life. And to do that, we must, first of all, clear our minds of certain misconceptions about the meaning of the word happy -- Every day of our lives, we use the word quot;happyquot; in a sense which means quot;feeling good,quot; quot;having fun,quot; having a good time, or somehow experiencing a lively pleasure of joy. We say to our friends when they seem despondent or out of sorts, quot;I hope you will feel happier tomorrow.quot; We say quot;Happy New Yearquot; or quot;Happy Birthdayquot; or quot;Happy Anniversary.quot; Now all of these expressions refer to the pleasant feelings -- the joys or satisfactions which we may have at one moment and not at another. In this meaning of the word, it is quite possible for us to feel happy at one moment and not at the next. This is not Aristotles meaning of the word. Nor, when you think about it for a moment, can it be the meaning of the word in the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson and other signers of the Declaration had read Aristotle and Plato. This was part of their education. Both Aristotle and the Declaration use the word happiness in a sense which refers to theShow MoreRelatedAristotle Of Aristotle : Nicomachean Ethics1487 Words   |  6 PagesAristotle: Nicomachean Ethics Happiness: it’s something we humans search far and wide for, to attain before we are called home at death. We go through our daily lives, making choices, commitments, changes, decisions. We set goals for ourselves, push ourselves, hurt ourselves, inspire ourselves, lose ourselves, find ourselves†¦but why? 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