Happiness, According to Aristotle

Why Aristotle considered happiness to be the 'goal of all goals' and how he recommended we attain it.

Happiness is surprisingly quite a polarizing subject in the philosophical world. 

The moment I wrote the line above, I actually laughed a bit. I take that back - everything is a polarizing subject within the philosophical world.

Today, I’ll be sharing part one of a three part series with you. The series, which will be shared over the course of the next three weeks, will explore the topic of happiness from the viewpoints of three different philosophers; Aristotle, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Robert Nozick. Each of these philosophers offer a radically different approach than the next, and I found it interesting to learn more about how they each approached arguably one of the most desired emotions amongst humans. For thinkers such as Aristotle, happiness equated to being the ‘goal of all goals’, or in other words, the key to living a fulfilled life. For others, such as Nietzsche, an overemphasis on happiness was considered to be dangerous, as he illustrates within his example of The Last Man. Lastly, we’ll be exploring a few ideas from Robert Nozick, who’s famous Experience Machine thought experiment had a dramatic effect on how philosophers assigned value to happiness. Next week, we’ll dive into Nietzsche’s ideas, followed by Nozick’s philosophy the week after that.

Aristotle

For Aristotle, the end goal of all human activity, including our thoughts and actions, was something called eudaimonia. The exact definition of eudaimonia is heavily debated, which is expected given the age of the term, and many scholars have offered differing explanations for what Aristotle may have meant when using the word. Some define eudaimonia as simply being ‘happiness’, whilst others consider it to reflect something closer to ‘human flourishing’ or the ‘highest human good’. However you may choose to define eudaimonia, Aristotle made it clear that this was the ‘end goal’ of all of our actions. 

I actually really like the term eudaimonia, especially when considering how Aristotle used it. He essentially used the term to describe the meaning of our lives and the reason behind all of our decisions. I like the word because it avoids the problems that come along with using basic terminology to answer big philosophical questions, such as ‘what’s the meaning of life?’. If someone states that happiness is the meaning of life, and that it’s what we’re constantly pursuing as we make decisions on a daily basis, someone else would probably come along and poke holes in the very concept of ‘happiness’ itself (we’ll talk about Nietzsche next week). The same goes for if someone were to say that ‘fulfillment’, ‘power’, or anything else is the meaning of life. Assigning one word to be the meaning of life is too simplistic and doesn’t truly capture the depth of the question, and answers that are complex and in-depth are typically easier to be philosophically attacked (and risk becoming too narrow), so Aristotle’s ‘eudaimonia’, as nuanced as it may be, allows us to have these philosophical discussions without arguing over terminology. This is a personal take, but I think the nuance is good in this case. Whether you believe it means ‘human flourishing’, ‘happiness’, or anything else, the one thing we can agree on is the fact that it represents the meaning behind all of our lives and the ‘thing’ that we strive for everyday, which allows us to have these philosophical discussions in a more streamlined way. Within today’s post, for the sake of clarity, I’ll be referring to eudaimonia as ‘happiness’, but I just wanted to provide some background on the term before we proceeded.

The Goal of all Goals

Aristotle highlights the fact that everything we do has some sort of goal behind it. When we go to work, we have a set of goals that are achieved by this action; making money, advancing our careers, developing our skillsets, etc. The same goes for virtually everything; very few things are done without a larger objective in mind. Even for someone who sees value in boredom, the very act of doing nothing and being bored is done with the intent of achieving some sort of ‘higher’ goal, whether it be self-improvement or something else. 

Aristotle remarked that the vast majority of our ‘goals’ are actually dependent on other goals. For example, you go to work to make money. However, the act of making money is not fulfilling in and of itself - we want to make money in order to attain other goals such as the ability to buy things, the ability to live a more comfortable life, to attain power, etc. These goals may then also rest on additional goals - it’s a chain.

Aristotle, however, wanted to figure out what was at the end of this chain. He figured that it can’t be an infinite chain that goes on forever, and he reasoned that this ‘thing’ at the end of our chain of goals must be the meaning of life and our purpose as humans. This ‘thing’ at the end of the chain, according to Aristotle, is happiness (eudaimonia). Happiness is the ‘end goal’ which is valued in and of itself; it’s not dependent on an additional goal in order to be valuable.

Going back to my example above, you go to work in order to make money, and that money grants you various things (the ability to provide for those you love, the ability to be comfortable, etc), and this ultimately all can be traced back to happiness. Taking care of those we love and being comfortable eventually leads us to an ‘end goal’ of happiness. According to Aristotle, you can trace our ‘chain of goals’ back as far as you’d like, but the ‘end goal’ that you’ll always arrive at will be happiness.

“Happiness, therefore, being found to be something final and self-sufficient, is the End at which all actions aim.” - Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1097b

For Aristotle, happiness (eudaimonia) is way more than merely being a feeling - it’s a sort of ‘state’ or form of fulfillment that is cultivated through thoughts, actions, and activities. It is for this reason that he believed happiness couldn’t be achieved through things such as material goods, wealth, fame, etc.

So, how do we maximize our chances of attaining happiness?

The long answer - it’s complicated. If you want the full scoop, you’d have to dive headfirst into a few of Aristotle’s texts such as The Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotelian philosophy is simply too complex and in-depth for me to be able to do it justice within one post. 

The short answer - by living a virtuous life with the help of our greatest superpower; reason.

Aristotle believed that the ability to reason at a high level was a defining feature of humanity - it’s what sets us apart from other animals. It’s what allows us to function as humans, and therefore getting better at reasoning equates to becoming a better human. This is precisely why Aristotle believed that happiness could be achieved through getting better at reasoning. If the attainment of happiness is our purpose as humans, and we become better humans by getting better at reasoning, then better reasoning = more happiness (according to Aristotle). 

For example, if someone wants to become a musician (a goal which will lead them in the direction of happiness), they would have to cultivate certain virtues by employing the use of proper reason. This person would have to use their courage (virtue) in order to pick a career path that’s defined as ‘risky’ and ‘unstable’ by society, and this courage can only be developed and chosen to be used by getting better at reasoning. This person would also have to have temperance (virtue) in order to sacrifice short-term pleasures such as socializing in order to dedicate time to perfecting their craft, and this also requires reason. In other words, you have to be able to reason well in order to make strategic decisions such as staying home to work on your music instead of going to your best friend’s house party on the weekend.

Anyone who has ever done anything remarkable with their lives has done so through the cultivation and employment of specific virtues, which has allowed them to achieve their goals and ultimately achieve happiness. However, you can only cultivate and deploy these ‘good’ virtues if you’re able to reason well.

To put it simply; eudaimonia (happiness) is achieved through embracing ‘good’ virtues’ which is done through the use of reason.

Reason = Virtues = Happiness

“…from these premises it follows that the Good of man is the active exercise of his soul's faculties in conformity with excellence or virtue, or if there be several human excellences or virtues, in conformity with the best and most perfect among them.” - Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1098a

I hope you enjoyed today’s post. If you did, be sure to share it with someone who may find value in it as well.

Stay tuned, as next week we’ll be diving into the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.

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