Aristotle’s Interpretation of Happiness

People go through their lives looking for happiness. Is it found in something we do? Is it found in what we have or the people we are involved with? What is happiness? Happiness is simply the state of being happy, but is it really that simple? Aristotle talks a lot about happiness or eudaimonia (a person’s well being) a lot in his work. Aristotle believes there is a “two- tiered” conception of eudaimonia” (Page 1) that is split between the masses or what we would call the common people and the cultured people also known as the educated or upper class. In this paper you will learn what Aristotle believed happiness was and how he thought that we could achieve it. Aristotle believed that happiness was a supreme good or the “highest of all ends” (Hutto 384) and also that the end of political science aimed to it. Aristotle believed that political science “determined what sciences are necessary in the states” (Aristotle 10) and that “the good of an individual is identical with the good of a state” (Aristotle 11). So if “moral purpose aspires to some good, what is in our view the good at which the political science aims, and what is the highest of all practical goods?” (Aristotle 13). The answer to this question was found to be happiness. At this point there was an agreement between two groups of people. These groups of people were known as the masses (common working people) and the cultured (educated upper class). Both groups agreed that happiness was the supreme good or the “highest of all practical goods” (Aristotle 13). To be simply put they agreed that to be happy was to also live or do well. Aristotle says that the masses have a different idea of what the nature of happiness is than the cultured. The masses put a more simple twist on happiness making it more about instant gratification than a long journey of finding it. For the masses happiness has a more material connotation to it. They believe that happiness is dependent on a person’s wants and needs at the time being. “The former define it as something visible and palpable.” (Aristotle 13). For example, “when he is poor, it is wealth” (Aristotle 13). Aristotle doesn’t just take the masses view as being something that is just physical. It can also be seen as getting a skill that they wish to have. For example, “for when a person is ill, it is health” (Aristotle 13). The masses, in Aristotle’s eyes, would not be able to actually find true happiness. Aristotle’s opinion of happiness was on the side of the educated. Aristotle believed in living a good life full of good virtues and reason. Aristotle understood that happiness would change depending on the person. To find happiness Aristotle believed that “happiness is the final end or goal that encompass the totality of one’s life.” (PoH) He believed that a person’s happiness is determined on how the person lived and it depended on how they have lived up to their potential. (PoH) Happiness for Aristotle must involve all other aspects that he looked into. A person’s virtue, reasoning, and rationality must all come into play when someone is looking into if they actually found happiness. As it is said on the website Pursuit- of- happiness.org “Happiness is not pleasure, nor is it virtue. It is the exercise of virtue.” It is one thing to just have virtue but Aristotle believes that you must use it in order to be happy. He is saying that a person must live their life the way that they want to live it and in a way that goes along with their moral virtues in order for them to have true happiness at the end of their lives. In conclusion Aristotle has a very complex view on what it is that happiness is. His two- tired system allows for a lot of debate between people who read his work. If you take either side of his system it is easy to find a way to happiness, either it is something you find in the moment or something you live your life to find. The positive of the in the moment argument is that you will find happiness more often in life and it could result in happier times. The negatives to it are that in the end you might not have lived a full life of what you wanted. In the end it is for you to decide.

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