Happiness And Lifestyle In The Article Nicomachean Ethics By Aristotle

In the article Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle talks a lot about how one should live their life. He speaks about happiness, what it is and how it should and should not look in everyday life. He speaks a lot about how we should treat each other along with how we should treat ourselves in order to live a very happy and healthy life overall. He also talked about reasoning and the differences between practical and theoretical reasoning which is important because some do not really understand the difference between the two.

Aristotle’s definition of happiness in the Nicomachean text is that he believes that happiness is not a state but an activity. He believes that happiness depends on ourselves and that it is a central purpose of human life. Happiness is a complete and sufficient good that has no evil mixed into it and is always stable. Aristotle also states that happiness is acting in the highest form of human self.

There are three major lifestyles as stated by Aristotle and each of them is important in their own respect. First is the life of enjoyment or gratification. Aristotle says that this lifestyle is aimed at the money makers. The life of enjoyment is a life of compulsion. He believed that living this lifestyle meant you were not going to ever be fully satisfied because you will always be looking for the next best thing. He believed this was not the type of good were we seeking and it was only useful for the sake of something else.

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The second major lifestyle was the life of political life. People of superior refinement live this life. These people identify this life with honor as well but this is debatable because honor seems too superficial and depends on others. According to Aristotle, the good we seek should be something of one’s own and should be obtainable without the validation of others. The third major lifestyle is the life of intellectual inquiry or reflection. It answers peoples’ moral or ethical issues. This lifestyle is said to be lived by philosophers and wise men. Aristotle believed that this lifestyle was the very best way to live. He believed this because the best part of human nature is its intellect and because it is the most self-sufficient and continuous so it can be carried more and longer than any other activity. Lastly, it is loved entirely for its own sake and can be done by one person, all by themselves.

Practical reason is the use of reason to decide how to act or as Aristotle says, it seeks truth to things that can be other than what they are. Theoretical reason is the use of reason to decide what happens next or is concerned with things that cannot be other than they are. In the reading, Aristotle justifies the difference between the two of these by saying that practical reasoning can be distinguished between the activities of making and doing while theoretical reasoning is believing that things are exactly what they eternally are. Theoretical reason requires no thought beyond itself while we as people expect practical reason to result in benefits beyond itself.

I believe Aristotle’s views on happiness and life are not like a lot of people these days. I personally believe Aristotle was correct in saying that the people who live the life of enjoyment are the money makers and they live out of compulsion. This is not true for everyone in the world of course but I personally believe this idea does give a sense of false happiness to the people who really live this way. The way it was being portrayed is that you make so much money and have all of these possessions and they make you eternal happiness but that is rarely the truth. In this day and age, people thrive off of social media and living a lavish life. Some people worked hard and genuinely love living extravagant lifestyles while maintaining a family and surrounding themselves with many people who love them without a doubt. For others, this is not the case. They live this happy lifestyle online but overall they are miserable and do not trust the people around them because they feel people are only around for their money. People of my generation have grown up seeing this and even living this. I believe in the future it will become an even bigger issue.