PHI 1104 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: The Good Life, Rationality, Wisdom King
Document Summary
Aristotle uses this argument to show how the position against there being a supreme good is absurd. First, he hypothesizes that all aims lead to a supreme good. Then every action attempts to accomplish a good, and then a further good, and then a further good, without end. If this assumption is true, then desire would be empty and futile. This is absurd; therefore, there must be a supreme good. The good life is not a life of luxury. Why: luxuries aren"t necessary to well-being, nature doesn"t miss them when they"re not present. Concerning the mind, luxuries do not ease: the terrors of superstition, the fear of death. Only the use of reason and understanding the workings of nature can eliminate these worries. People will betray country and family to avoid it: like all things, the mind is mortal. Made up of component atoms that compose, decompose, and recompose.
