CHARU AGARWALLakshmi Bai college, New Delhi ,India

Power point presentation , Nicomachean Ethics

Happiness.

CORE CONCEPTS IN PHILOSOPHY :

ARISTOTLE, WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

(NICHOMACHEAN ETHICS BK. 1)

HAPPINESS

Happiness for Aristotle is not pleasure

If pleasure were our highest goal then we would be no different from animals.

But we have rational capabilities.

Also, pleasure can be derived from wicked behavior.

So whether pleasure counts as good or not depends on what it is derived from.

Happiness for Aristotle is a kind of activity.

It is lived well

It is life well lived.

THE FUNCTIONAL ARGUMENT - I

Thus, ethics is science of achieving happiness.Ethics is concerned with action, not just knowledge.

Actions all aim at some intrinsic good.

The highest good is happiness.

And happiness is living wellWhich is to do well at life

We usually say that something does well when it fulfils its functions

A knife does well if it cuts well

Since its function is to cut

A pencil does well if it writes well, a heart if it pumps blood well , etc.

THE FUNCTIONAL ARGUMENT - II

Thus if humans are to do well it must be by fulfilling their function.

Do human have a function?Aristotle thinks so since , every part of a person’s body has a function (heart , liver ,

etc.)

And , even person in society has a function (banker , teacher , student , cab driver etc.)

Shouldn’t the person , considered as a human being then have a function too?

The function of a thing is the unique thing that distinguishes it from other things like it.

THE FUNCTIONAL ARGUMENT - III

So the function of a knife is to cut becauseIt was made to cut , that is its purpose

That is the thing which distinguishes it from other objects.

The function of the heart is to pump bloodIt was designed to pump blood that is its purpose

That , is the thing which distinguishes it from other organs

What distinguishes human ?Not perception or movement since animals do that

“Rationality”

THE FUNCTIONAL ARGUMENT - IV

The function of human beings is rationality We are the rational animal

Since happiness means living wellAnd something does well when it fulfils its function well.

Happiness is therefore acting rationally well

But howdo we fulfill this function A virtue is simply what ever it is that allows an object to fulfill its function

The virtue of a knife are what allow it to cut well.

Thank you for being such a good listener…….

And for supporting my presentation .