Understanding Aristotle's Philosophy on Happiness and Virtue

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: Happiness and Virtue

Aristotle wrote several treatises on ethics, the most important of which is the Nicomachean Ethics. In his Ethics, Aristotle starts from the ultimate goal: the goal of all men is happiness. Surely all men, whatever their creed or belief, will agree with this statement. Disagreement begins when trying to realize what happiness is.

What is Happiness According to Aristotle?

To answer the question of what constitutes happiness, Aristotle discusses human nature. Every person is happy doing the activity that is proper and natural (this principle is a consequence of his teleological conception of nature: everything tends to an end that is their right). For Aristotle, happiness, therefore, is not a mere possession, it is not even a being, but an activity, done according to virtue. Thus, Aristotle says that man will be happy doing excellently his own or specific function, which is rational activity, wisdom.

But Aristotle realizes that this ideal of happiness and perfection is a goal not easily attainable. To achieve it, according to Aristotle, one needs, above all, the possession of moral virtues.

The Virtues

Aristotle defines virtues as habits that improve the human soul. He distinguishes two types of virtues in the human being:

• Intellectual virtues, which perfect knowledge
• Moral virtues, which perfect the character, the way of being and behaving

When considering a habit of virtue, Aristotle introduces freedom and effort, beyond the moral intellectualism of Socrates, for whom the knowledge of good led inevitably to good action. Among the intellectual virtues, Aristotle emphasizes prudence. Prudence is the virtue that tells man what the appropriate compromise is without resorting to excess or defect.

Moral Virtue and the Golden Mean

Aristotle defines moral virtue as a "selective habit, consisting of a compromise in relation to the subject, determined by reason, as a wise man would determine it." That is, moral virtue is:

• A habit (stable disposition),
• Which provides us to choose correctly in each case.
• The right thing is a compromise, not abstract or general, but always understood as something that is average between extreme actions or attitudes. The extremes are vices, one by default and another by excess.
• The average should be established rationally. Hence the importance of prudence, practical wisdom, which determines the reasonable average for each action in each particular case.

Two Additional Theses on Moral Virtue

Aristotle completes this definition with two arguments:

1. First Thesis: "Virtue, from the point of view of its essence, is a compromise, but with respect to goodness and perfection, it is an end." Aristotle clarifies that the term "medium" is not a poor way to act because, with respect to goodness and perfection, it is the most correct way to act ("... with respect to the property, it is an end..."). It is not only a certain amount; the average includes all aspects of perfect action: the right time, in an appropriate way, to certain people, for a just cause, and so on.
2. Second Thesis: "There is no middle ground of excess or defect, as there is no excess or defect in the middle." Aristotle establishes the rule that the average cannot be set as "bad in itself," such as actions of adultery, theft, murder, etc., or passions of malignancy, such as shame, envy, etc. These actions are excesses and defects in themselves.