Aristotle's View of Happiness Is Essay

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What distinguishes man from animals or plants is his capacity to reason. Animals seek pleasure for pleasures sake while human beings have the capacity to reason and, therefore, determine what pleasures to seek that are appropriate. This process of seeking the appropriate pleasures such as heath, wealth, knowledge, etc. allows a human being to enrich his life and lead eventually to a state of happiness. Reasoning allows one to develop good character. Doing the virtuous thing may not always be easy and require a strong effort but it will, according to Aristotle, result in a happy life.

The essential element of Aristotle's approach was his belief that happiness is the ultimate end of human existence. He did not view happiness as a pleasure, but rather, it is the result of a lifetime of exercising virtue. It takes an entire life of living virtuously to attain happiness and, therefore, it is not possible for children or young adults to be considered happy.

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According to Aristotle, they have simply not lived long enough to develop the level of virtue necessary to attain happiness.

Maintaining balance and living life in moderation was what Aristotle viewed as the key to a life of pleasure. Individual actions were not the source of pleasure but it was a pattern of living that brought a reasonable person happiness. Aristotle looked unfavorably upon pleasure seeking behaviors. For him, happiness was attained through a long-term process that was only possible through the accumulation of virtue and the accumulation of virtue required reason and contemplation. For Aristotle, happiness requires living a life where one continuously chooses the proper course of action and this cannot be accomplished without contemplation. Therefore, Aristotle viewed the human capacity to contemplate as the highest, and most valuable of activities......

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