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  • Essay / The Best Life - 1567

    In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argues that the ultimate good is eudaimonia or happiness and that ergon, the human function, determines what this happiness is. Although some may argue that there can be more than one form of ultimate good other than happiness, Aristotle believes that not all ends are completed. Unlike happiness, wealth for example is not complete and eudaimonia is therefore the only ultimate good. In order to determine what happiness consists of, Aristotle asks what the ergon of a human being is and argues that it consists of the activity of the rational part of the soul in accordance with virtue. Aristotle also gives his view of what the best life is and is. However, it is illogical to identify a single kind of best life for everyone, because it should be relative to each person in different ways. Moreover, the life of study, which is the best life according to Aristotle, is not the only type of life that brings happiness. The best life of a sick person compared to that of a poor person will be different in terms of what it will consist of and the happiness it will bring. Aristotle believes that eudaimonia or happiness is the ultimate good and that the best life is guided by rational contemplation; while it is true to say that happiness is the highest good, Aristotle wrongly argues that the best life is a life of study and provides an objective account of the good life that does not apply to all. Although happiness is the ultimate good, Aristotle establishes the best life and falsely claims that the life of study is the best life for everyone, but it is crucial to first determine how Aristotle relates eudaimonia to human function and to virtue. Aristotle believes that in asking what is the middle of paper...... activity of the rational part of the soul in accordance with virtue. He believes that human function is only that which is unique to us. Aristotle also presents a valid reason why happiness is the ultimate good. Happiness is a choice in itself and is never complete because of something else. Finally, Aristotle asserts that a life of study is the best life for all humans, but that there should be only one good that constitutes the goal of every human being. He wrongly reasons that just because the gods are involved in study, humans should also participate in such activities. Forgetting everything he had previously said about virtues and habituation, Aristotle asserts that only a life of study will bring happiness. While humans should all aim to achieve Aristotle's vision of eudaimonia or happiness, his beliefs in the best life are unrealistic..