Happiness and the Virtues by Aristotle

Aristotle's Happiness and the Virtues. Aristotle's ideal of happiness and virtues has been drawn to a large extent from his mentor and teacher, Plato. The context of his ideas is firstly that ethics and politics are closely intertwined, together forming the concept of Political Science. Secondly, virtue according to Aristotle is an innate human quality, which can be enhanced and developed by practice. Since it is innately human to be virtuous, this element is also closely associated with what Aristotle views as the ultimate good: to be happy.

According to Aristotle then, happiness is the purpose of all action (Smith viii). Furthermore this is seen in the social and political context of the time. Thus, happiness is a collective effort of individual and state, rather than just of the individual. While the ideal of happiness is to a large extent individual, the state plays a prominent role in making this happiness possible. To emphasize the importance of happiness as the ultimate of human pursuits, Aristotle addresses this concept first.

Virtue, while laudable, is the vehicle by which ultimate happiness is attained. Happiness then is divided into various paradigms, according to which human beings live their lives. Aristotle identifies happiness as adhering to four views: vulgar, active, contemplative, and money-getting. The philosopher proceeds to prove the vulgar, active and money-getting concept of happiness inferior to the contemplative, where virtue and knowledge play a prominent role. His treatise is then also aimed at the intellectual with a general education and a basis of good habits.

This is the kind of person that would derive the maximum benefit for Aristotle's words (Smith xi). Aristotle however goes on to say that, by whatever means happiness is sought, it is sought for its own sake alone, and is thus completely self-sufficient. This is the reason for his earlier claim that happiness is the ultimate purpose of everything. However, the way to happiness can be wrongly chosen.

A person for example who pursues money in order to attain happiness will not succeed as well as the person who seeks happiness in virtue. The basis of this claim also lies in Aristotle's view of human nature. A human being has an innate capacity for virtue. He explains vice by emphasizing that the seed of virtue is present, but it needs to be consciously nurtured and matured. If vice is pursued instead, it instead of virtue will grow and mature.

Aristotle places virtue in two categories: the first is intellectual, and the second moral. The pursuit of virtue on an intellectual level then leads to the growth of morality and the eventual attainment of happiness (Browne xviii). The pursuit of happiness and the growth of virtue as a vehicle to such happiness thus takes effort, or what Aristotle refers to as "energizing." This is the principle according to which virtue must be actively pursued in order to attain the highest degree of happiness.

It is therefore possible to attain this degree of happiness, otherwise, according to Aristotle, its pursuit would be pointless. It is therefore reassuring that every person has an innate sense of virtue. Knowledge and habit are therefore the prime ingredients of the successful pursuit of virtue as well as the attainment of the highest form of happiness. Indeed, the virtuous capacity itself is "improved by education and matured by habit" (Browne xix). It is thus important to pursue virtue by repetitious action, which would then form good habits.

It then follows that there are three prerequisites for the moral act. These include knowledge attained by study; preference, which involves choosing the moral of its own account; and finally fixedness and stability, which is manifest in habit formation (Browne xxi). In general then Aristotle's view of virtues and happiness is that the one is attained by the other. The successful attainment of true happiness is only attained by adhering to certain virtues. These are attained by study and habit, which would then culminate in the ultimate human goal: happiness.

Furthermore this happiness is dependent not only on the individual, but also on the state. The state and the individual work collectively to pursue happiness. In society today, some of Aristotle's ideals regarding virtues and happiness do still apply, while others are obviously adherent only to the philosopher's social paradigm. It is believed today, for example, that each human being is born with the capacity for good, which is then either nurtured or discarded through habits formed in life.

This belief then translates to nearly all areas of life, including religion, education and politics. It is also universally true that happiness is pursued as the aim of all human activity. The concept of job satisfaction is a manifestation of this. One's work should make one happy. Furthermore the pursuit of happiness may be found in emigration and the pursuit of the "American Dream." All these pursuits have their end in the attainment of happiness.

Also, it is still true that happiness is pursued by a variety of means and symbols, such as money, children, marriage and the like. Aristotle's view here however appears somewhat simplified when applying it to society today. The world, as it becomes increasingly complex, also breeds a more complex kind of human being. Thus, while the basic end remains happiness, the means of attaining it, and the meaning of the concept of virtue, change with time.

Virtue in today's world then is far more than a mere adherence to a set of rules that can be studied and applied. Instead virtue grows from life experience and from interaction within society. Through this "virtuous" concepts such as human rights and refraining from harm have become part of the virtues in society. Furthermore.