Principles of aristotle the pursuit of happiness

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Assignment:

Summarize this and explain what are they key principles of Aristotle "The pursuit of happiness"

At the core of Aristotle's ethics is political intent.

Aristotle's first concern is not the individual. His first concern is the polis, the Greek city-state. The isolated person, outside the polis, must be "either a beast or a god." Aristotle's ethics state that human life is shaped to its full extent in the context of a community. It is there that the citizen will find happiness.

Aristotle does not equate happiness with pleasure. Pleasure, for Aristotle, was suitable for cattle. Pleasure is only momentary. Happiness, however, is an enduring state of someone who does well the tasks that are typical of a human being. Happiness is the condition of the goodperson who succeeds in living well and acting well. In the words of Aristotle As [all] knowledge and 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 practicalgoods? As to its name there is, I may say, a general agreement. The masses and the cultured classes agree in calling it happiness, and conceive that "to live well" or "to do well" is the same thing as "to be happy."

But as to the nature of happiness they do not agree, nor do the masses give the same account of it as the philosophers. 2 In other words, for Aristotle, ethics aims to discover what is good for us as human beings, what permits us to reach our potential, what is our internal compass, or what we are intended to be. For Aristotle, someone is happy "if and only if, over some considerable period of time, [that person] frequently performs with some success the most perfect of typically human tasks." 3 For example, according to Aristotle, happiness might mean learning to be a responsible and active citizen of your community, or developing a lifestyle that fosters good health.

That is why we call his ethics teleological ethics.

It is because teleological ethics derives from discovering the finality (telos) of what we are intended to be.

Reference no: EM133437536

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