Within the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argues that we are able to recognise the best good as a result of we do every part else for its sake, whereas we by no means say that we pursue the best good for every other factor’s sake. For Aristotle, the best good is the glad life.
There’s a passage (Nicomachean Ethics, Book I) the place Aristotle is anxious with discovering out what “the great” is. Not any good, however the highest good.
So he seems on the numerous sciences and humanities, and he finds that all of them have totally different meanings of “good.” In medication, it’s good to be wholesome. In technique, the final word good is to win. In music, it’s to play a chunk nicely.
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However all these even have one thing in widespread. For each exercise, the great is that for the sake of which the exercise is undertaken. If you go to a health care provider, you accomplish that for the sake of your well being. If you play music, you play for the sake of enjoying a chunk nicely. So your well being is one attainable good. And enjoying a chunk of music nicely is one other good.
However now we are able to nonetheless ask the identical query about this stuff that appear to be good. For the sake of what do I would like my well being to be good? Why do I care whether or not I play an instrument nicely? Maybe I can discover one more reason. I would like my well being to be good in order that I can take pleasure in my life extra totally. I wish to play music nicely so that folks will like to listen to me play and I can be well-known.
However once more, I can ask additional. Why is having fun with my life factor? Why do I wish to be well-known?
Ultimately, Aristotle says, we should discover one thing that’s good for its personal sake, not for another objective. We’ll discover, Aristotle says, that every one different issues are good for the sake of that final good. However this final good is just not good for the sake of something outdoors itself.
So what’s Aristotle’s highest good? What might or not it’s? What will we need just for itself, not for the sake of one other factor? Aristotle says: Happiness.
We wish to have cash, so as to be glad. We wish to have household, so as to be glad. We would like success and fame and a sailboat or a personal jet so as to be glad. However we by no means wish to be glad so as to achieve another aim. Being happy is itself the highest good. It doesn’t want every other justification. It’s beneficial in itself.
This seems like a simple perception, trivial maybe. Nevertheless it has far-reaching penalties. The following time I’m tempted to work late, I ought to ask myself: Why am I doing this? What’s the final objective of me working late? If Aristotle is true, it’s happiness, nothing else. However then, can I actually attain happiness be working late? Does working late not imply that I can be neglecting my household? And is my household not additionally a supply of happiness, a extra dependable one than cash? If my final aim is to be glad, shouldn’t I cease working late, and simply go dwelling and benefit from the firm of those that love me?
Philosophy can solely make clear the questions. It’s as much as every one in all us to search out our personal solutions.
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