What Is Happiness?

6 Pages 1552 Words

Happiness is found truly in the journey of life, not in the arriving of some destination, or the end itself. Aristotle completely agrees with that outlook, in his words he describes happiness, or the human good, as the “activity of soul exhibiting excellence?(Nicomachean Ethics I. 7). That “activity of soul exhibiting excellence?is in the journey, but in the journey to what? Happiness is the ultimate end or goal of being completely virtuous, but it is something that is found in the activity of striving for that end. So how does one know if the end they have chosen is something that will bring that happiness? How does one achieve this end? Why are there so many different ideas and definitions from different philosophers on the meaning and method of attaining real happiness?
Happiness is the ultimate end. So many people in the world today have different temporal goals, different aspirations, and differences in what they would call the good which brings or is happiness. But “the many do not give the same account as the wise?(I. 4). So if everyone is aiming at some good, which might be in their view the highest or ultimate good, does that mean that it is the ultimate end which Aristotle defines as happiness and which brings happiness in the pursuit or activity thereof? No, because some peoples actions and goals for which motivates them to take action is not necessarily based on virtuous things, so the end would be something that might be good, but not the ultimate good.
There are certain things in life which might be considered as being good, but they are not the best, or in the terms Aristotle would use, they are not the most virtuous things. And seeing as how it is the activity of the soul doing these most virtuous things that brings and is real happiness, in order for one to know if the end or goal they are pursuing is one that is virtuous the question must be asked, of whether the activity is the most virtuous act...