aristotelianism

Rembrandt, "Aristotle contemplating a bust of Homer" (1653)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

doctrine of the mean

It was characteristic of Greek philosophy to be very speculative. This is seen most strikingly in metaphysics, where many Greek philosophers tried to discover the true nature of the world by the use of reason alone. Aristotle, in his ethical writings, departs from this tradition & takes an empirical approach to ethical problems. Instead of trying to discover the nature of the good life for all people by reflection alone he examined the behaviour & talk of many people in everyday life.

He noticed that we regard some people as leading what we call "good lives" and others as leading what we call "bad lives". He noticed further that the various lives which people of common sense consider to be "good" all contain one common characteristic: happiness. And similarly, the lives which ordinary people regard as being bad lives all have in common the characteristic of being unhappy. Therefore in answer to the question "What is the good life for humans?" Aritotle answers in one sentence: "It is a life of happiness."

But this is too simple. We still would like to know, what we mean when we say the good life is a "happy" one. Do we suggest that it is a life of pleasure, of success, of fame, or what? Exactly what does the word "happiness" mean?

Aristotle's work in ethics is an attempt to answer that question: he tries to explain more clearly than most people can what moral words like "happiness" mean. The Nicomachean Ethics, which is the title of Aristotle's chief work on ethics, can thus be regarded as one of the earliest essays in what we now call "analytical philosophy". Aristotle was trying to explain the use of certain moral terms which occur in everyday speech in a clearer way. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle gives a definition of the word 'happiness' which has since become famous:

Happiness is an activity of the soul in accord with perfect virtue

Unfortunately, this definition may not be much clearer than the original question "What is happiness?" In fact, it has been a source of puzzlement to philosophers for centuries, & various interpretations of it have been offered.

One idea is that Aristotle is stressing the fact that happiness is not something which is static but is an ongoing activity. We sometimes think that happiness is something we arrive at - a certain fixed goal which awaits us if we behave in certain ways. Those who hold this view tend to think of happiness as an object of a certain sort; just as Tokyo is an object we can arrive at by flying north-east from Fukuoka. Once we finish our tour through life's daily activities then we will have arrived at this goal called "happiness".