Aristotle Is The Highest Human Good - 1135 Words

Aristotle is a dichotomist, which means that he believes that human beings consist of two major elements, the body and the soul. The body is the physical matter that one can see, where the soul is the feelings and desires one has; the things you cannot touch. Aristotle believes that we have three major elements of the soul which are pleasures, desires, and feelings. These elements are where we find our virtues. In book one of The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses that virtue is the highest human good. This being said, there are two qualifications that the highest good must have, â€Å"The good must be something final and self-sufficient,† (Aristotle, 10). By final Aristotle means that which is in desirable in itself, and not sought for the sake of something else. By self-sufficient Aristotle means something that does not depend on other’s bestowing it. Aristotle gives us the sense that he believes that politics is about the human good and one cannot begin to pract ice politics or political science well; unless one has the idea of what the good actually is. In book one; with many arguments to support his theory, he tells the reader that the good is intellectual and moral virtue. One of his arguments is he believes that you need a moderate amount of both health and wealth to be able to fully develop the virtue. He sees these two aspects as a form of equipment because if one is constantly ill or does not have a sufficient amount of money there will be many obstacles in reachingShow MoreRelatedKant And Aristotle s Views On Ethics And Morals1480 Words   |  6 PagesAlyson Huttlin Professor Strom Philosophy 300 Class Section 1200 Recitation-Tuesday 10am 2/11/2015 What Is The Highest Good? Immanuel Kant and Aristotle are two of the most prominent philosophers on ethics and morals. Each has their own idea about human life and what the highest good is. It has even been said that in his Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Kant disproves Aristotle’s view. In order to prove that Kant successfully disproves Aristotle’s theory, we must first understand both theoriesRead MoreSimilarities Between Aristotle And Aquinas1207 Words   |  5 Pages Both Aristotle and Aquinas were prominent philosophers who wrote profound works that discussed the concept of the highest human good and how humans can achieve it. In Aristotle’s, Nicomachean Ethics, the highest human good is a state of constant seeking knowledge as a way of achieving full capacity as a human. The writings of Aquinas are similar to Aristotle, but, in Treatise on Law, he discusses the type and elements of law. His discourse on law ultimately names the highest human good as beingRead MoreGreek Phil osophies Impact On The Early Development Of Christian Thought1348 Words   |  6 Pagesthen rationally evaluated. Theologists like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas both discovered the use of Aristotle in the formation of the Christian mind. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, believed that all humans had a purpose and that the purpose was for the greater good. However, the good life or the blessed life for Aquinas and Augustine was heaven. For Greek thinkers like Aristotle or even Plato, human actions derived from reason, rationality, and intellect. Christian thinkers like Augustine saw philosophicalRead MoreAristotle s Highest Good Theorem1037 Words   |  5 PagesAristotle’s Highest Good Theorem When Aristotle first published his work entitled â€Å"Nicomachean Ethics†, you can imagine that numerous philosophers, scholars, and ordinary citizens were deeply contemplating his idea of the Highest Good Through the actions of virtue and reason, the act contemplation satisfies Aristotle’s characteristics as the Highest Good Being a self-sufficient, and complete activity, the ability to understand our function as human beings through contemplation achieves the Highest GoodRead MoreAristotle s The Best Benefits For Human Beings946 Words   |  4 PagesIn Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle propose that everything has its own function, including human beings. By fulfilling that function in an excellent way, one can achieve Eudaimonia. The idea later becomes to be known as the Ergon argument. This paper is intending to argue for the ergon argument. Aristotle enquires the best benefits for human beings. First, he starts by saying that everything in natures has its own function. For example: the hammer’s function is to hammer the nail, or a tree’s functionRead MoreAristotles Eudaimonia1627 Words   |  7 Pagesin Greek. Aristotle argues that the highest good for human beings is happiness. He insists that every action performed by humans is to pursue happiness. Aristotle also argues that human action is always aimed at some end or good. This good may not be viewed as a good action or any good by others, but for the doer of the action (good), the activity will be perceived as good and that it will bring a favorable outcome. Aristotle also said that all of our actions resulting in ends or goods form a hierarchyRead MorePlato s A Good Life1393 Words   |  6 Pagesor not such life leads to happiness.† However, Plato didn’t seem to agree with Socrates on that, he argued that â€Å"the righteous life is no t only good in itself but also necessary condition of a happy life† The book Plato’s republic discusses about several important and fascinating theories of topics. Plato spends most of his time discussing about the â€Å"good life†, he appears to believe that a perfect life has to be managed under the perfect conditions. When you have a perfect life managed under theRead MoreThe Good Man Based on Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics Essay1069 Words   |  5 PagesThe Good Man Based on Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics Plato believed that a man could only become good by knowing the truth, and he could not know the truth without being good. This shows to be somewhat of a paradoxical argument. On the other hand, Aristotle had a different theory regarding the goodness of man. Aristotle claimed that the good man was the norm and the measure of ethical truth. Pertaining to Aristotles definitions, in this essay I will explain the meaning of the previous statementRead More Aristotle and Happiness of the Soul Essay724 Words   |  3 PagesEthics is that â€Å"human good turns out to be the soul’s activity that expresses virtue†(EN 1.7.1098a17). This conclusion can be explicated with Aristotle’s definitions and reasonings concerning good, activity of soul, and excellence through virtue; all with respect to happiness. Aristotle opens his argument with the statement: â€Å"the good has been well described as that at which everything aims†(1.1.1094a2). This premise means that all actions aim at an end that is good. Moreover, throughRead MoreAristotle s Views On God997 Words   |  4 Pageshow a person should live his/her life. Despite the agreeance that god is the highest being, the conflicting view between philosophers is on the way one should live his/her life of virtue. Through different perspectives, distinguishing good from bad is extremely difficult. Aristotle was not religious, did not think god was compassionate, and did not believe one would meet god himself in the â€Å"life after death†. Aristotle believed that being virtuous was why one should be moral as Aquinas believed that