Blog Post #7: Aristotle, the Champion of the Good Life

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” 
― Aristotle
Aristotle is one of the Greek philosophers that caught my attention the most. He is known for his ethical writings called the Nicomachean Ethics, an account that discusses his take on happiness. He argues that happiness is the most complete end to live a good life for the soul to exercise activities according to reason. The purpose of human life for Aristotle is to live well, flourish, and to have a good life.

His model of the good life speaks to me since he asks what is the ultimate purpose of human existence. I ask myself and wonder if there is a meaning to a good life. After reading the assigned articles, I realized that to live a good life is to enjoy life and be happy. Aristotle teaches us about the goal humans must reach in order to search for happiness which is to reach Eudemonia, a state of flourishing. As humans, we grow to become a better person to achieve our goals, to spend time with our family and friends, to make sure we are healthy, and to perform activities we do everyday that makes us feel joyful.
Happiness involves achievements we seek during the course of our lives. The most important ingredients we need to flourish is health, knowledge, wealth, loving relationships like family and friends, and goals that we want to accomplish. In order to reach a true state of eudemonia, we aim for virtue since Aristotle believes it was necessary to get through life. One of the key virtues Aristotle lists is justice, courage, fortitude, and temperance. These virtues are the key to make the right choices when faced with a conflict we encounter at one point in our lives. In addition, we need reason to recognize the right and wrongs of the choice we or some people make. Aristotle believes moral virtue, a routine to make the right choices, is imperative to look back at the choices we make and figure out if it made a positive impact. We develop good habits and virtues to make our lives better for everyone around us and to reminisce the past decisions we made to determine if we are happy. As long as we have a virtuous life, our life will have meaning, which is to live well and be contented.





Sources:
https://reasonandmeaning.com/2013/12/19/aristotle-on-the-good-and-meaningful-life/ 
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Key-Concepts-of-the-Philosophy-of-Aristotle 
http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/aristotle/ 
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2192.Aristotle 

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