The Role Of Happiness In Nicomachean Ethics By Aristotle
Happiness is similar to an acorn. When an acorn is young and blooming, you cannot call it a tree. When man is young and fresh, you cannot call him happy. Happiness is the ultimatum of life. Only at the end, when man has lived his life, when he is successful, he is healthy, he has a strong mind, may one call him happy. Aristotle was very clear on one thing: “Happiness depends on ourselves.” Aristotle preserved his belief that happiness was the central purpose of human life, and it should be an accomplishment that everyone should strive to. He believed that genuine happiness required the fulfillment of several conditions, including mental and physical strength and well being. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle lays his work for the future to read and learn from. These texts are still relevant in society today, around 2,300 years after Aristotle left the world. In these texts, Aristotle asks a fundamental question. Why are we here? Is there an end goal for us? What is the ultimate purpose of humans? One of his key arguments was the state of happiness. The definition has changed over time, from the time of the Greeks to now. Eudaimonia is a Greek word that roughly translates to Happiness. Although the more accurate translation is “Human Prosperity and Flourishing”, we use this word broadly, as Happiness. In modern times, happiness is defined as a
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When, for instance, the popes express their judgment on the justice of a particular war, we should value that more highly than the advice of, say, someone who stands to profit monetarily from the war. And we must always keep in mind that the definition of prudence requires us to judge correctly. If our judgment is proved after the fact to have been incorrect, then we did not make a "prudential judgment" but an imprudent one, for which we may need to make
When, for instance, the popes express their judgment on the justice of a particular war, we should value that more highly than the advice of, say, someone who stands to profit monetarily from the war. And we must always keep in mind that the definition of prudence requires us to judge correctly. If our judgment is proved after the fact to have been incorrect, then we did not make a "prudential judgment" but an imprudent one, for which we may need to make