Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics: On Happiness

1. Aristotle – Nichomachean Ethics Lecture 5 On Happiness. Nichomachus – Aristotle’s son Ethics stems from Gk ethos = a) character in relation to individuals & b) custom in relation to societies/city states Ethics ≠ moral theory Ethics = Treatise on Character N.B. Don’t confuse this with modern (Kantian) coneptions deontological conceptions of morality

2. 2. Overview of the Argument 2.1 Opening Question: What is the Good? Book1.Chapters1-2. Opening Answers: a) That at which every activity aims (an end). b) These can be products/works (erga) • or activities (energeiai) 2.2 The Hierarchy of Goods What is the Highest Good? The highest good is the good which is • i) desired for itself and • ii) not desired for any further/higher good • iii) the good for which all other goods are desired. The hierarchy of goods at the apex of which is

3. There is a hierarchy of goods at the apex of which is what is good in itself (or the most perfect good, or the most final good, or the most self-sufficient good.) But is this A B C M N O X Y z Or A M N X Y Z Are the most perfect/final/self-sufficient goods many or one? If they are one, can this good really be theoretical contemplation?

4. The Hierarchy of Ends Book 1 Chapter 2. Aristotle claims that there is a hierarchy of ends that is isomorphic with the hierarchy of goods. So Horsemanship exists for the sake of • Warfare and Generalship (1094a12) • Which exists for the sake of peace! N.B. Political science – the science of the things of the polis is the most magesterial superordinate science. “Hence the end of political science will include the ends of other sciences within it and so the end of the science of politics will be the good of man. For though admittedly the good is the same for a city as for an individual, still the good of the city is apparently a greater and more complete/final good to acquire and preserve. For while it is satisfactory to acquire and preserve the good even for an individual, it is finer and more divien to acquire and preserve it for a people and for cities. And so, since our investigation aims at these goods [for an individual ad a city], it is a sort of political science.” (1094b6-12)

5. Overview of NE Initial Answer. The highest Good is Happiness. What is happiness? Book 1 chapters 3-6 Ruling Out Answers given by Common Opinion. • Happiness is not the life of gratification and pleasure. (1095b15) • Happiness is not the accumulation of money and wealth. (1096a6) • Happiness is not (just) the life of honour . (1095 a22) • Happiness is not the life of virtue considered as a capacity/potential. (1096a1)

6. N.B. virtue = aretē = excellence There are not just moral excellencies or virtues. The word ‘aretē’ has a perfectly normal non-moral meaning. A knife has a virtue when it performs its function – cutting – well, i.e. when it is sharp and the right size for the purpose. • Final Answer: The human good (happiness) is (1098a9): “an activity of the soul in accordance with reason” [psychēs energeia kata logon] or better: “The human good turns out to be activity (energeia) of soul (psychēs) expressing virtue (kat’ aretēn), and if there turns out to be more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most perfect.” (1098a16-18). Question: What is the best and most final virtue? Can it be the theoretical virtue of conemplation or is it the practical ethical virtues?

7. For the sake of… A. Merely Instrumental Goods Some goods exist entirely for the sake of other goods. A pen exists for the sake of writing, a flute for the sake of music. Pens and flutes are instrumentally good, good only insofar as they are means for bringing about other goods. B. Intrinsic and Instrumental Goods Some goods have intrinsic value. It is good to go for a walk. But one can go for a walk in order to stay fit. So one and the same activity can be an instrumental and intrinsic good. C. Intrinsic Non-instrumental Goods The highest good exists for the sake of no other good, and is the good for the sake of which all other goods are pursued.

8. A B C Teleios – teleioteros – teleiotatos. Complete, more complete, most complete. Final, more final most final. Perfect, more perfect, most perfect. What kind of a relation is the “for the sake of” relation? A exists for the sake of B when you only do A in order to bring about B. B exists for the sake of C, because one does B in order to bring about C, even though one can also do B for its own sake. This is an hierarchy – it is not symmettrical. If A exists for the sake of B, then B does not exist for the sake of A.

9. The for the sake of relationship is partly a causal chain of means and ends. The hierarchy of “for the sake of” relations bewteen ends implies a kind of chain of value and a set of norms for regulating our activities. Medicine is an activity performed for the sake of health. So good health provides the norms that regulate medical practice.

10. Happiness = eudaimonia ‘Well-being’. ‘Human flourishing’. ‘Being blessed by the Gods’. Children and animals cannot be eudaimon. • Eudaimonia is a familiar and ordinary expression in Greek not a technical term. • Eudaimonia does not denote a feeling or state of mind, but rather an (objective) property of a (complete, human) life. • Eudaimonia can be achieved normally, only when certain threshold conditions are met. • “Those who say that the victim on the rack or the man who falls into great nisfortunes is happy if he is good, are, whether they mean to or not, talking nonsense.” VII 13 1153b19-20

11. The function argument in 1 vii. 1. If human beings have a function/work, it will be the highest good. • Every human activity has a function. • Every ergon work is performed well(or badly) in accordance with its spefic excellences/virtues. • Human being share their biological, and sensory functions with animals. • Only the function of reason and soul do they not share with animals. • The function of the human being must be its life activity expressing reason in accordance with virtue (its specific excellences).