Happiness, Function, Morality, and Virtue Aristotle argues that happiness, function and morality are closely connected and that virtue is dependent upon all of them. To fully comprehend Aristotle's theory, we must first examine each of these qualities and then determine how they are related to one another. The deliberation process will show that all of these qualities can be strongly connected, but not exclusively. Happiness, function, morality and virtue can exist independent of one another. The first deliberation is to define happiness. Happiness is the highest of all practical goods identified with " living well of doing well"(100). According to Aristotle, Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim. But a certain difference is found among ends (99). An example of this reflection would be the final product created by an architect. This individual completed building a structure from start to finish and has reached the end of the project. The architect is pleased by the results of what she created. The architect achieved the desired outcome and is therefore happy. A difference between the actual end and the desired outcome is what makes happiness different for each individual. All ends do not lead to happiness. For example, finishing a painting makes the artist happy but not the autoworker whose preferred end is making vehicles. The fact that not all human beings share the same ends proves that happiness is found at different ends. Aristotle illustrates happiness as being the "chief good". In the following quote he explains that rational human beings take happiness for itself and never for any other reasons: Since there are evidently more than one end, and we choose some of these...for the sake of something else, clearly not all ends are final ends; but the chief good is evidently something final. (103). By this definition, happiness must be only the final end, which is the "chief good" (103). This means that happiness is the pursuit of all that which is desired, and the desire is to reach the final end. If the end is final it becomes the "chief good" (103). In Aristotle's own words he says, "Happiness, then, is something final and sel

Aristotle's Theory. (1969, December 31). In DirectEssays.com. Retrieved 03:07, May 24, 2013, from http://www.directessays.com/viewpaper/85726.html

Direct Essays. "Aristotle's Theory." DirectEssays.com. DirectEssays.com, (December 31, 1969). Web. 24 May. 2013.

Direct Essays, "Aristotle's Theory.," DirectEssays.com, http://www.directessays.com/viewpaper/85726.html (accessed May 24, 2013)