Recap of Aristotle So Far Summarise what you

Recap of Aristotle So Far… Summarise what you remember about Aristotle’s basic philosophy of life from last lesson in 50 words or less…

Means and Ends When we look at our lives, our different activities all seem to aim at ‘goods’ – things that will add value to our lives or the lives of the people involved in some way. These ‘goods’ might also be referred to as ‘ends’. For example: Jobs aim at money Medicine > Health Reading > Knowledge The way in which we achieve these ‘ends’ are usually referred to as ‘means’.

Means and Ends Aristotle believes that most of our ends are in fact means to achieving some greater end, and that this greater end is itself means to achieving a further end or goal and so on etc. Action 1 – Going to work End 2 – Buying a new Play. Station M ns ea M … M ea ns to … to End 1 – Earning money End 3 – Playing a new game

Recap of Aristotle So Far… • What does Aristotle believe all our actions are guided by? • What does he believe our ultimate aim in life is? • What is the original Greek term for this?

The Ultimate Good So Aristotle thinks he has shown that every activity we undertake is in pursuit of some good – something that will benefit our lives. He then takes this further and says that there is ultimately one end we are all aiming for. He refers to this final end as ‘the Good’. Something that we are all striving to reach in order to make our lives as valuable as they can be. All are means to: “The Good”

But what is the ultimate end or goal? So how are we to know when we have found an answer, when we have discovered something that really is the supreme Good, the final end we are looking for? Aristotle outlines the following criteria: 1. It must be an end (We don’t want it for any other reason). 2. It must be the final end (That for which everything else is done) 3. It must be self-sufficient. (It needs nothing more to complete it – otherwise there would be more aims) 4. It must be a life that we all want. (Otherwise it’s not an aim for all) 5. Finally it must be something that is related to us as human beings. (Which we shall see when we come to his arguments later. )

Recap of Aristotle So Far… • What does Aristotle believe all our actions are guided by? • What does he believe our ultimate aim in life is? • What is the original Greek term for this?

What does Aristotle think? “What is the highest of all practical goods? Well… there is pretty general agreement. ‘It is happiness*’ say both ordinary and cultured people. ” – Aristotle *A basic translation of an important term – Eudaimonia. Whilst happiness gives the gist of what Aristotle means by this, we will be looking in more detail at the actual meaning next lesson.

Recap of Aristotle So Far… • What does Aristotle believe all our actions are guided by? • What does he believe our ultimate aim in life is? • What is the original Greek term for this?

Quick Question What does it mean to be happy?

Eudaimonia • We’ve just said, Eudaimonia roughly translates to ‘happiness’, but this is not a full translation. • For a start ‘happiness’ is problematic as an aim, as it’s unclear what it really means for people. • ‘Happiness’ also doesn’t entirely encompass what Aristotle meant when he talks about our ultimate aim.

Eudaimonia • Eudaimonia for Aristotle means ‘living well and faring well’. • We have some idea of what it is when an animal or plant is living and faring well – we talk of them ‘flourishing’. • A plant or animal flourishes when its needs are met in abundance and it is a good specimen of its species. • So eudaimonia is flourishing for a human: it is ‘the good’ or ‘the good life’ for human beings where our needs are met in abundance and we are a good example of our species.

Quick Example On one half of your whiteboard, draw an example of a ‘good’ daisy as best you can… On the other half of your whiteboard, draw an example of a ‘flourishing’ daisy as best you can… So for Aristotle – a ‘good’ life for humans, one in which we are Eudaimon (have achieved Eudaimonia), is one in which we are flourishing. Our needs are all being met. What do you notice about the two pictures? Are there any obvious differences?

Eudaimonia We can start to see now how this idea of flourishing differs from our traditional view of ‘happiness’ - but we can further distinguish the two by comparing them side to side: Happiness Eudaimonia Relates to a psychological state Relates to an activity (living). Realising the potential a human life has Subjective. The person who is happy/unhappy knows best whether they truly are happy/unhappy Objective. A judgement can be made about someone’s life and how truly ‘good’ it is. Comes and goes very easily Stable and not easily changed; it is an evaluation of a person or a life as a whole.

But what does it mean to flourish? Verbally there is a very general agreement; for both the general run of men and people of superior refinement say that it is eudaimonia, and identify living well and faring well with being happy; but with regard to what eudaimonia is they differ, and the many do not give the same account as the wise. For the former think it is some plain and obvious thing like pleasure, wealth or honour…

Eudaimonia – How do we flourish? People may agree that Eudaimonia is a good thing, but just saying it’s ‘flourishing’ isn’t really saying very much, as people might disagree over what it actually means. Aristotle therefore starts his investigation by analysing popular explanations of what a ‘flourishing’ life might consist of. It turns out popular explanations of a ‘good’ life 2000 years ago are not too different from what people might say today. Perhaps a good life is one filled with one of the following: Pleasure Wealth Honour Goodness (Moral)

Pleasure Wealth Honour Goodness (Moral) Use pages 301 + 302 in the textbook to help you. For each of the candidates for a ‘good’ life listed above: 1. State why someone might see it as the main aim in a ‘good’ life. 2. Explain why Aristotle believes that each cannot be all there is to a ‘good’ life. Extension: Do you think he is right? Is a life focused on these goals not necessarily a ‘good’ one?

Pleasure Wealth Honour Goodness (Moral)

Pleasure 1. Utilitarian view, a good life is one where we fulfil our ‘pleasures’. 2. But this would be a worthless existence, no better than cattle. Wealth 1. Money gives us access to so much in life, it’s obviously what we should aim for. 2. If we want money for other things it can’t be our ultimate aim. The Good. Honour Goodness (Moral) 1. To aim for respect amongst 1. Kantian view – It just makes our peers and in public life sense to aim to be a good will mean we make the best person in life. decisions. 2. This doesn’t mean we 2. Honour is something that is would have a ‘good’ life given to us, we can’t gain it though, we could be a the ourselves. It’s not most moral person and still flourishing. suffer.

Eudaimonia So if we’ve eliminated all these possibilities, what are we left with? What actually is Eudaimonia? What do we need to have a good, flourishing life? It’s simple, argues Aristotle – a ‘good’ life is one in which we perform our function and purpose as humans correctly. If we can do this, we will achieve Eudaimonia and will ‘flourish’. We will discuss this idea of function in more detail next lesson.

What can you remember? Without using your notes: 1. What for Aristotle is meant by the term Eudaimonia? (Clue: It isn’t happiness) 2. What are some of the differences between this and happiness? 3. Why does Aristotle rule out pleasure (UT) and moral goodness (Kant) as being our main aims in life?

Without using your notes: 1. What for Aristotle is meant by the term Eudaimonia? (Clue: It isn’t happiness) 2. What are some of the differences between this and happiness? 3. Why does Aristotle rule out pleasure (UT) and moral goodness (Kant) as being our main aims in life?

Quick Summary So Far Problems with traditional ethical theories. Instead try to base ethics on how we should be as people, not rules or consequences. Everyone’s actions are guided by particular aims or ‘goods’. We want to achieve these things to add value to our lives. Important point: Eudaimonia means more than just ‘happiness’ it means flourishing or living well. The ultimate aim for humans in life is happiness, or more specifically – Eudaimonia. These ‘goods’ are in fact guided by some ultimate aim or ‘good’. One that will make our lives extremely valuable and is not wanted for anything else. Popular versions of living well are not enough. Pleasure, wealth, honour and moral goodness are not Eudaimonia. Although they may not be bad short-term goals. To live a good life and achieve Eudaimonia, we must perform our function and purpose as humans. ? ?