Eudaimonia - Aristotle's Ethics

Amongst all activities we engage in during our everyday lives, there is a goal (telos) far greater than them all. In the eyes of Aristotle, this final goal is the goal of life. But what does the term ‘life’ here exactly entail? And how do we individually achieve this ideal? This, in Ancient Greece, was an extensive topic of debate that still continues in society’s morals we know today.

Firstly, examining Aristotle’s ideas around goals and what they consist of, will open us to a better understanding of the ultimate goal. Aristotle, as mentioned in previous posts, suggested that there were goals within nature. For example, the function of a plant; providing oxygen, growing fruit, and also function within basic human activity, e.g. walking to be healthy, drinking to quench thirst. This goal is generally always to do good.

“Every craft and every investigation, and likewise every action and decision, seems to aim at some good” - Aristotle

To Aristotle, goals were either products (ships, coffee), or activities (listening to music, cycling). A person may have a plurality of goals while still aiming towards the ultimate one, but this does not mean some are more important than others, for they can be valued for their own unique purpose. Goals usually exist in their own hierarchy - imagine a horseshoe, for example. It is designed, created, sold to horse riders, to cavalry, cities and so forth.The product here is structured accordingly to how pursuits in your life should become structured. Hence, it is aiming towards a worldly good to benefit everyone.

However, Aristotle did not believe that money in the bank, nor success, or fame, or public recognition leads to the definition of a good life. Of course, he believed being well-respected by others was certainly important, but not wholly. Many men sought pleasure, dedicating their life to it and little else. Like success, pleasure to Aristotle was not so highly regarded, instead it was part of an activity - the perfecting part. Pleasure within itself is not a good, and can cause reason to become clouded. When one is painting, for example, they become fully absorbed in their work, oblivious to the passing of time. This is real pleasure; the result earned from an engaging activity.

In fact, these small enjoyable activities all contribute to the ultimate goal of life:

• Living well

• Doing well

In order to live well, one must relish in their jovial pursuits instead of striving to achieve mountains of money. Fortune will not contribute to the final goal either. If Aristotle questioned, “what are you doing with your life?”, and one replied “listening to music”, to him this is the perfect answer, instead of working oneself into the ground for golden coins. No amount of human money will equal the true concept of a good life. Aiming for money usually results in a corrupt state of mind, for one will relentlessly pursue their career by the means of theft, telling lies and other unjust, immoral and unethical behaviour.

Therefore, one must set themselves ‘just’ standards as they achieve individual goals, for these will reflect on achieving the ultimate one. Similar to when one is playing a sport, they constrain themselves to the rules of the game to achieve the best result. The rules are a guide, just as the standards for living well will guide your life to achieving the final goal.

So what is the final goal?

Eudaimonia = happiness

“As far as its name goes, most people virtually agree (on the goal of life), since both the many and the cultivated call it happiness (eudaimonia), and suppose that living well and doing well are the same as being happy. But they disagree about what happiness is…” - Aristotle

Happiness, however, and doing well do not always equate to the same thing. I could be completely absorbed in my painting, for example, but still not be happy.

Some suggested that the meaning of eudaimonia should therefore be, “human flourishing”. This is rejected, on claims that it sounded too biological. He emphasised that eudaimonia is not a state of mind or a feeling, it is the goal of life and the reward of living well by according to a set of standards. What but are these standards?

The Greek word ergon means function. In order to discover what the human function is, we must find what is exclusive to us as a race. Our human function does not mean our specific purpose, however, rather is it our distinctive behaviour. Nutrition, growth, reproduction, sense and perception are not exclusive to humans. However, our reason is. The ability to choose right from wrong and judge a situation in a just matter is rarely seen among other species of whom act on the instinct of survival.

In fact, our rationality is what we have in common with the divine. Aristotle believed that the perfect happiness can be found in studying philosophy and contemplating the natural world whilst admiring it. When we are excelling our reason and knowledge this way, we are ‘at one’ with the supreme being within the Universe. Our ability to reason is a small serving, say, of a giant dish of rationality. The supreme being is forever contemplating, but is not subject to change. When we contemplate the unchanging Universe, we are as close to the divine as we can be.

“God is always in the good state that we are in sometimes… the God is the best and everlasting living being. So that continuous and everlasting life and duration belong to God, for that is what God is” - Aristotle

But what about emotion? How can one always exercise their reason when they are tugged by natural feelings which make us human? This all falls on the virtue of character. Aristotle divides the soul into having two parts; the animal part which follows reason, and the nutritive part which does not. The nutritive part we share with plants, and this part cannot follow reason. For example, I should grow longer legs, but I cannot. The animal part of our soul can follow reason, and this is the part that can also disobey it according to our desires and appetites. The virtue of character, however, can be trained by the soul to abide by reason. These virtues are activities or emotions, such as fear, confidence, etc. All these virtues can become an excellence of reason, for example, fear can become courage. People who excellent these virtues will live happy, varied and appropriate emotional lives, thus achieving the goal of life. Therefore, all humans need to do is control the irrational part of their soul to listen to reason, rather than their emotions, and act accordingly.

Therefore, Aristotle did not believe that we should ignore our emotions completely. Rather, we needed to master our natural human feelings. Feeling an emotion too strongly is evidently wrong, but so is feeling one too weakly. Most emotions come hand in hand, from one extreme to the other. Sadness opposes happiness, fear opposes courage, and so forth. We don’t want to eliminate fear altogether, for fear is a natural instinct that can guide us to a better outcome, such as survival. However, if we have too much fear, we will become cowards and live an unsettled life. We need to find a middle way, for at the other end of the spectrum, too much courage can make us overconfident and rash. This is known as Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean. Each virtue is a ‘mean’, positioned between two intense vices; an excess and the other a deficiency. Even generosity can become a vice; you could forget about caring for yourself or give away too much money to someone who isn’t very deserving of it. One must find the balance between these two vices in order to control any ruthless or constraining emotions.

However, achieving a successful, whole life this way isn’t exactly easy. One cannot control their emotions all the time, even if we know it’s inappropriate. Aristotle responds by saying we must always do what we think is the right thing to do. Right here meaning what is rational. For example, if a man is tempted to steal a great amount of fortune, he runs the risks of living a life with a guilty conscience, being tracked by the police until he is eventually caught. If he chooses not to steal, however, he can live with a clear conscience. Resisting temptation, although to be congratulated and admired, does not necessarily mean you have a peace of mind. It is far better to not be tempted at all then resist temptation with great difficulty.

The term theoria means the excellence of knowledge, or activity. Aristotle states that we hold knowledge in our minds all the time, for example working out a mathematical equation, but we are not always using it. When we are using this reason, however, our knowledge is fully actualized. The virtues of intellect are called theoretical virtue due to their connection to theoria; which is to figure out and know the answer. Therefore, the life of theoria equals to the excellence of reason.

Theoria, however, is not distinctive to us as human beings. It is shared with the Gods. Gods themselves do not involve feelings or emotions, just pure rational excellence and intellect. Gods constantly have theoria, whereas we only experience it in brief moments of time when we are fully exercising our knowledge and reason. There is also the political life, the life where we exercise the other form of knowledge - practical knowledge. In order to maintain a just human life of the correct standards, we must perfect our virtues of character to live the political one. This life is second best to the life of theoria, but this doesn’t mean that engagement isn’t important. We must think like the Gods in the life of theoria (athanatizein = to be like the immortals) to fully exert our knowledge, whilst sustaining a human life of character virtue in the political one by following our reason.

Aristotle’s virtue theory, as it is now referred to today, is recognized in the modern world as the best way to approach ethics and living a good life. Although some disagree, Aristotle offers a straightforward, compelling notion on how to establish a flourishing world to live in. If the final goal is happiness, and by being a good, moral and thoughtful citizen is the key to achieving this, then surely there is no other, better basis on how to live your life.