Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing Essay -- Aristotle Philosophy Philoso

Eudaimonia and benevolent FlourishingAristotle describes three types of smell in his search for human favorable lives of gratification, politics, and contemplation. He contends that there is a single fancy of Good that every men seek, and he captures that happiness, or eudaimonia, best fits his criteria. Aristotle investigates the human purpose to find how happiness is best achieved, and finds that a life of activity and contemplation satisfies our purpose, achieving the almost complete happiness in us. Aristotle is correct regarding the necessity of activity, but restricts the guess to only the life of study. We will reject this restriction, and instead allow some(prenominal) life of virtue and productiveness to substitute for Aristotles life of study. integrity primary means of remaining active to achieve happiness includes lovable friendships, which only happen to the virtuous. Thus human flourishing is living a life of virtue, activity, and productivity. Aristot le proposes that we assimilate a single report of Good which is some(prenominal) complete and self-sufficient, chosen entirely for itself, and that end is happiness. He must founder these three claims Idea of Good advance 1) We have ends which we opt for themselves.Idea of Good Claim 2) That there is only hotshot such end.Idea of Good Claim 3) That end is happiness.He argues for Idea of Good Claim 1) as follows (Irwin 173) 1.1.If we choose everything because of something else, desire will be empty-bellied and futile. 1.2.We have a gut feeling that some desires are not empty and futile. 1.3.Therefore, we do not choose everything because of something else. 1.4.Therefore we choose something for its own sake. 1.5.What we choose for its own sake, therefore, must be the best good. Th... ...nt role in fortune us remain active and virtuous. We can apply a broader cover of this search for happiness by allowing lives other than that of study and contemplation to be pursued, as lo ng as virtue and loving friendships are present. To find at this conclusion we postulated two of Aristotles premises (see Postulate 1 and Postulate 2) allowing these lead us to a worthwhile map of how one may reach eudaimonia, the Idea of Good which follows from the postulates. Overlaying a life of productivity for Aristotles requirement of study, we have achieved a valid argument, assuming the postulates, for a means of human flourishing. One should live ones life with virtue, activity, and productivity. Work Cited All references are made to Nicomachean Ethics, written by Aristotle, translated by Terrence Irwin. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. 1999.