Aristotle and the Good Life

1) The Good

The Good
When a thing has a proper operation,
the good of the thing and its well-being
consist in that operation
 The Good

A good computer is one that functions

well.
A good saw cuts well

A good plant acts according to its nature

(functions well). Grows, reproduces,
nourishes itself.

A good dog functions well (sees, hears,

runs, fetches sticks, etc)
A good man functions well
Man’s specific operation (function):

Intellect (to think)

Will (to choose)
Hence, a good man reasons well and chooses
well.
2) Happiness

The ultimate
end of Happiness (Eudaimonia)
everything we
do

Every Agent Acts for an End (Final Cause)

 Earlier Questions:

Is it possible to achieve everything that one has set

out to achieve in life and in the end find oneself
unhappy?

Is it is possible to have a wife/husband, children,

house, and a good job, and at the same time still be
unhappy?

If yes, does it not follow that happiness is not

necessarily achieving your goals? Not necessarily
having a wife/husband, children, house, and a good
job?
 Not something that
What then is happiness? comes from the outside
in

Happiness

Not something that

comes from the Rather, happiness is an inside
outside in job
 Happiness is an activity, not
a passivity

Chosen, not determined

Happiness (eudaimonia)
Socrates: happiness is the perfection of the
soul.

In other words, happiness is goodness, virtue.

Aristotle: Partly true. Happiness is the

perfection of the highest powers in man, as
well as the lower powers.

The perfection of the intellect, the will, as

well as the perfection of the concupiscible
and irascible appetites.
Happiness: Activity in accordance with
perfect virtue
Why?

Because virtue perfects the powers of the soul. In other

words, virtue disposes the powers of the soul to their
proper activity.
3) Habit/Virtue
Can a person be a learned man, but not a good
man?
4) Contemplation

If happiness is the fulfillment of human nature,

what is the highest power in human nature?

Ans: Intelligence

All men by nature desire

to know.
Supreme End (Good)

Knowing the highest things

Theoretical Contemplation

...the activity of our intelligence constitutes the complete

happiness of man,...So if it is true that intelligence is divine in
comparison with man, then a life guided by intelligence is divine
in comparison with human life. We must not follow those who
advise us to have human thoughts, since we are only men, and
mortal thoughts, as mortals should; on the contrary, we should
try to become immortal as far as that is possible and do our
utmost to live in accordance with what is highest in us.
Contemplation is not problem solving. It is the
intellectual delight in the possession of truth
The human person must strive to know,
to develop his mind, to enjoy the
contemplation of truth

But man is not a “separate substance” (pure

form). Man is a rational animal.
5) Order vs. disorder
Concupiscible appetite

Pleasure appetite

Sense appetites

Irascible appetite

Aggressive appetite
 Concupiscible Appetite
Sense appetite: whose object is the “sensible good”.

Gives rise to the emotions of love, desire, satisfaction, or

hate, aversion, and sorrow
 Irascible Appetite
Sense appetite: whose object is the difficult sensible good
or difficult sensible evil.

Gives rise to emotions of hope and despair

 Irascible Appetite
Sense appetite: the object of this appetite might be a
sensible evil that is difficult to surmount.

Gives rise to the emotions of fear, daring, anger

 Sometimes the appetites rebel against
reason
I.e.,

The person who easily gives

up when things become
difficult.

The person who runs when

there is danger.
 Sometime the appetites rebel against reason
The person who
cannot hold a job
because he has no
self-control over
alcoholic drink.

The person who has

no control over his
sexual appetite, and
so can think of
nothing other than
sex.
The good life begins by bringing
order (proper form) to one’s life.
 Disorder

Concupiscible appetite

Irascible appetite

Intellect

Will

Bestial (akin to the beasts or brutes)

Ordered Life

Reason

Will

Concupiscible appetite Irascible appetite

* Difficult to achieve
 The Kalon (the morally beautiful)

The morally right

The noble

The good

The beautiful

The happy man is the noble man. Noble (kalon): attractive,

morally beautiful, virtuous.
 Beautiful (Noble) Character

The Intellectual Virtues:

Wisdom, Science, Understanding.

The Moral Virtues

The Intellect Prudence – Practical Wisdom

The Will Justice

The irascible appetite Fortitude

The concupiscible appetite Temperance

Good Faces
Why is this more in accordance with the facts?

It’s not having a wife/husband, children, house, and a good

job that will make one happy, since many who have such
things remain unhappy.

Only a virtuous person will be able to be a good

husband/wife, a good parent, and a person committed to the
good of the state.

It isn’t doing what you want that renders one happy, but
willing the good, the noble, the beautiful, I.e good character.

It is impossible for a virtuous person (character) to

be unhappy
 The Virtues
A Mean Between Two Extremes
Temperance and its parts
Moderate love of one’s own excellence
The virtue that subjects the emotion of anger to the demands of
reason
The virtue which inclines one to dress honestly, simply, and
ordinarily (as opposed to dressing provocatively, or
extravagantly)
Modesty
Modesty
Immodesty
Immodesty
The virtue that
moderates fear
and daring
The virtue that moderates the emotion of sorrow, disposing one
to endure a difficult and trying situation for the sake of the good.
The virtue by which one stretches forth towards great and
honorable ends.
Doing great and honorable things with great wealth
Justice: The constant will to
render to another that which is
due to him or her.
Inordinate love of possessing

The proper and reasonable stewardship of

excess riches

Spending money on the flesh that leads one

to take no pleasure in virtue
The virtue of speaking and acting in accord with truth. We have a
moral debt to express ourselves truthfully.
Vindication: the virtue by which one, in conformity with relevant
circumstances, observes due measure in meting out punishment to
one who has committed some moral offense. It is willing of
punishment for the sake of preserving the just order and restraining
evildoers.
Affability: the virtue by which one promotes and maintains agreeable
relations in social life. It is a friendliness, an establishment of cordial
relations with others (not the same as friendship).
The virtue inclining the will to correct law when law fails to
apply in particular instances.
The Most Important Virtues
Allied with Justice

Veneration (Observance): The virtue by which

we show honor and respect to persons who are
in a position of dignity and/or authority. Ie,
Leaders of State, Court Justices, teacher, vice-
principal, principal, police officer, etc.,.
The Most Important Virtues
Allied with Justice

Religion: The habit of rendering in some way

what is due to God (Aristotle = the gods).

external acts: sacrifice

internal acts: prayer
 The Most Important Virtues
Allied with Justice
• Piety: that part of justice by which we
render due honour and worship to parents
and country, as well as ancestors (those
who have gone before us, leaving us the
goods they worked to achieve).
 Prudence
The intellectual/moral virtue which rightly directs particular
human acts, through rightly ordered appetite, toward a good
end.

• A prudent man does not merely know what is good.

He is above all one who does the good.

Right appetite is thus part and parcel of prudence. Ie.,

one who does not will justice cannot be prudent.
Universal principles certainty

Particular situations less certain

Requiring a special virtue, an

intellectual/moral virtue
(requiring right appetite)
Integral Parts of Prudence

Memory
Understanding of first principles
Docility
Shrewdness
Discursive Reasoning
Foresight
Circumspection
Caution
 Integral Parts of Prudence
Memory
An inability to learn from experience, to reflect upon the
past in order to better understand the present.
 Integral Parts of Prudence
Understanding of first principles

Good is to be done, evil is to be avoided

Do not do to another what you do not like

One ought not to do evil that good may come of it

One ought to speak the truth.

One ought not to kill.

 Integral Parts of Prudence
Docility

The recognition of one’s finitude and need for advice.

The ability to learn from others, to seek out and accept their
advice.

An open-mindedness
 Integral Parts of Prudence
Shrewdness
solertia

Clear-sighted objectivity in unexpected circumstances

The ability to quickly size up a situation

Intuitive.
 Secondary Instances of the Kalon

The good life also includes secondary aspects that add to the
happy life. They do not constitute the happy life, but they add
to it. Many people today confuse the secondary instances of the
Kalon with the primary. Happiness is found in virtue, not in
these secondary instances.
See Next Slide
 Friendship and
Pleasure Cooperation with
Others

Good Health and Appearance

Respectable Family
Origin
Proper Nourishment and Sustenance

Full Life Span Leisure, good fortune

Sufficient wealth
 Friendship
Friendship based on utility – I.e., between business partners.
The other is loved for the benefits that accrue to me.

Friendship based on pleasure – I.e, between two people who

find each other physically attractive. This ends when the
thrill and novelty wears off (gets old). The other is loved for
what he or she does for me.

Friendship based on virtue (benevolence) – This loved is

based on character. The other is loved because his character
is noble. The other is loved for his/her own sake, not for my
sake. This is the only genuine and lasting friendship.