GIAN XEDRICK O.

MANZANO GRADE 11-STEM NEUTRON

“THE PURPOSE AND ULTIMATE GOAL IN LIFE IS TO ACHIEVE EUDAIMONIA”

- ARISTOTLE

Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) numbers among the greatest philosophers of all time. Judged
solely in terms of his philosophical influence, only Plato is his peer: Aristotle’s works shaped
centuries of philosophy from Late Antiquity through the Renaissance, and even today
continue to be studied with keen, non-antiquarian interest. A prodigious researcher and
writer, Aristotle left a great body of work, perhaps numbering as many as two-hundred
treatises, from which approximately thirty-one survive. His extant writings span a wide range
of disciplines, from logic, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind, through ethics, political
theory, aesthetics, and rhetoric, and into such primarily non-philosophical fields as empirical
biology, where he excelled at detailed plant and animal observation and description. In all
these areas, Aristotle’s theories have provided illumination, met with resistance, sparked
debate, and generally stimulated the sustained interest of an abiding readership.

“THE PURPOSE AND ULTIMATE GOAL IN LIFE IS TO ACHIEVE EUDAIMONIA”,

this quote by Aristotle in my understanding means that Eudaimonia or happiness is what we
must achieve in our life. We must be with the one that makes us happy like our family,
friends, peers, or even normal things like books, games, or movies. We have to clear all the
negativity we have and focus on the ultimate goal, HAPPINESS. To summarize from Pursuit
of Happiness (2018), according to Aristotle, the purpose and ultimate goal in life is to achieve
eudaimonia (‘happiness’). He believed that eudaimonia was not simply virtue, nor pleasure,
but rather it was the exercise of virtue. According to Aristotle, eudaimonia is a lifelong goal
and depends on rational reflection. To achieve a balance between excess and deficiency
(‘temperance’) one displays virtues – for example, generosity, justice, friendship, and
citizenship. Eudaimonia requires intellectual contemplation, in order to meet our rational
capacities. To answer Aristotle’s question of “what is the ultimate purpose of human
existence” is not a simple task, but perhaps the best answer is that the ultimate goal for
human beings is to strive for ‘eudaimonia’ (happiness). True happiness is accepting reality
for what it is, and strong relationships that characterize people that are truly flourishing. I
agree with Aristotle’s philosophy since we would be an empty shell if we are left without true
happiness, we would just be a person without personalities. It means that Aristotle believed
that eudaimonia was rational activity aimed at pursuing ‘what is worthwhile in life’. To live
your life to the fullest extent is my understanding of eudaimonia. Live the life you want with
the people you need and the things that make you truly happy, for me that is true happiness.

To conclude