PHIL 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Rational Animal, Bad Life, Nicomachean Ethics
Document Summary
If (cid:373)ea(cid:374)i(cid:374)g is fou(cid:374)d i(cid:374) a good hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) life the(cid:374) (cid:449)e (cid:374)eed to (cid:271)egi(cid:374) (cid:271)(cid:455) u(cid:374)dersta(cid:374)di(cid:374)g (cid:449)hat (cid:862)the good(cid:863) is. The i(cid:374)tri(cid:374)si(cid:272) good, or the (cid:862)(cid:272)hief good(cid:863), (cid:449)ill (cid:271)e that (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h all other good thi(cid:374)gs ai(cid:373) Something that we choose for the sake of itself and nothing else. Best candidate for our ultimate goal in life. Unlike other things since we value it for its own sake. Eudaimonia is the greek (cid:449)ork that is tra(cid:374)slated as (cid:862)happi(cid:374)ess(cid:863) Our (cid:449)ork te(cid:374)ds to i(cid:373)pl(cid:455) a ps(cid:455)(cid:272)hologi(cid:272)al state or is (cid:272)loser to the (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:272)ept of (cid:862)pleasure(cid:863) as the word is used by mill. The greek work implies contentment, fulfillment, and well-being. For aristotle you can have a life filled with pleasure that is no happy, based on the definition of the word he uses. Animals and children cannot be happy, and again if we were to define happiness according to the way we popularlt understand it, this would not make sense.
