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Happiness and The Ultimate Purpose

Aristotle argues that happiness is the ultimate purpose and highest good for humans. He defines the highest good as that which is desirable for its own sake and not for the sake of achieving something else. Older and wiser individuals agree that happiness fits these criteria, since it is the final end that all other goods like health, wealth, and pleasure aim to achieve. However, there are differing opinions on what constitutes happiness. Aristotle believes that humans achieve happiness by living according to reason and developing moral virtues over a complete life. A good person performs their human functions, like reasoning, well through virtuous actions and stands closer to achieving happiness. While being human is easy, becoming a good human through excellent, reasoned actions is difficult

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2K views2 pages

Happiness and The Ultimate Purpose

Aristotle argues that happiness is the ultimate purpose and highest good for humans. He defines the highest good as that which is desirable for its own sake and not for the sake of achieving something else. Older and wiser individuals agree that happiness fits these criteria, since it is the final end that all other goods like health, wealth, and pleasure aim to achieve. However, there are differing opinions on what constitutes happiness. Aristotle believes that humans achieve happiness by living according to reason and developing moral virtues over a complete life. A good person performs their human functions, like reasoning, well through virtuous actions and stands closer to achieving happiness. While being human is easy, becoming a good human through excellent, reasoned actions is difficult

Uploaded by

Wynona Calo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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HAPPINESS AND THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE

Aristotle begins his discussion of ethics by showing that every act that a person
does is directed toward a particular purpose, aim, or what the Greeks called telos. For
Aristotle, a person’s action manifests a good that they aspire for and such good is
considered to be the telos or purpose for which all acts seek to achieve. So, what then,
is the good? In raising this question, Aristotle is not looking for a list of items that are
good. He assumes that such a list can be compiled rather easily; most would agree, for
example, that it is good to have friends, to experience pleasure, to be healthy, to be
honored, and to have such virtues as courage at least to some degree. The difficult and
controversial question arises when we ask whether certain of these goods are more
desirable than others. Aristotle's search for the good is a search for the highest good,
and he assumes that the highest good, whatever it turns out to be, has three
characteristics: 1.) it is desirable for itself (self-sufficient), 2.) it is not desirable for the
sake of some other good (final), and 3.) all other goods are desirable for its sake.

So then the question is, what is the highest goal? What goal is both final and self-
sufficient? For Aristotle, only the older individuals can answer these questions since
they have gone through more experiences. According to Aristotle, older individuals
would agree that the highest purpose and the ultimate good of man is happiness, or for
the Greeks, eudaimonia. One can therefore say that happiness fits all 3 characteristics
because happiness is the only self-sufficient aim that one can aspire for and no one
tries to live well for the sake of some further goal; rather, being eudaimon is the
highest/final end, and all subordinate goals—health, wealth, and other such resources—
are sought because they promote well-being, not because they are what well-being
consists in.

The true measure of well-being for Aristotle is not by means of richness or fame
but by the condition of having attained a happy life. However, even though older
individuals agree that happiness is the highest end and good that humans aspire for,
there are various opinions on what specifically is the nature of the ultimate telos of a
person. Some people attach happiness with having wealth and power, or with pleasure.
Aristotle shows that one can arrive at the ultimate good by doing one’s function well. So
how does one achieve the highest good? The good of a human being must have
something to do with being human; and what sets humanity off from other species,
giving us the potential to live a better life, is our capacity to guide ourselves by using
reason, this is what separates us from plants and animals.If we use reason well, we live
well as human beings; or, to be more precise, using reason well over the course of a full
life is what happiness consists in. Doing anything well requires virtue or excellence, and
therefore living well consists in activities caused by the rational soul in accordance with
virtue or excellence.

Therefore, a person’s action to be considered as truly human must be an act that


is always in accordance to reason. That is not all though, Aristotle further says that a
person cannot only perform her function but she can also perform it well. What
distinguishes a good person from other human beings is her rational activity that is
performed well. A dancer, for example, becomes different from a chef because of her
function to dance while the chef’s is to cook. Any dancer can dance but what her distinct
from an excellent dancer is that the latter dances very well. The same principle applies
to human beings. Therefore, a good person stands closer to meeting the condition of
happiness because her actions are of a higher purpose
The saying “Madaling maging tao, Mahirap magpakatao” can be understood here
in the light of Aristotle’s thoughts on the function of a food person. Any human being can
perform the activity of reason, thus, being human is easy or achievable.However, a
good human being strives hard in doing an activity in an excellent way. Which is harder.
Therefore, the task of being human becomes more difficult because doing such activity
well takes more effort on the part of the person.

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