Aristotle proposes that happiness is the greatest good for a human life and
argues that ethics is essentially the science of achieving happiness. What is his
argument and how does he explain “excellence” in human living.
Aristotle talks a lot about how humans should live and how it differs from
our natural state of living. Aristotle talks about how humans differ from other
animals because all the other animals make decisions on bodily pleasures and says
how this is the life that would represents cattle. To Aristotle, there is much more to
being a human then fulfilling your natural needs. Reason is what brings us
eudemonia. Eudemonia is a person’s state of excellence across a lifetime, and
brought about through the exercise of moral virtue, wisdom, and rationality. With
reason we set ourselves apart from any other creatures because it is what guides
what we do, whether it is good or bad. I will use my imaginary friend Bill to explain
the different kinds of people.
What Aristotle mentions that separates humans from animals is that humans
are able to reason. When he says reason, he does not mean, “what food should I eat
today?” Aristotle proposes that we are able to reason within an action to make sure
we are fulfilling our inclinations while also fulfilling our rational desires. He
proposes that there are four types of people in this world. Those four types of
people are viscous, incontinent, continent, and virtuous.
The viscous person is the worst out of all of them. The reason why they are
the worst is because they are pleasured from the pain that they create. The act of
causing pain is not wrong in itself. The immoral action can actually be made well
before the pain was created. The way that this is possible is that people can plan on
doing something wrong, like rape or murder. When someone starts to plan an
immoral action, that’s when the immoral action begins. The way this can be
explained is by the steps they try to go through to make this plan or thought
become reality. This can be explained by dissecting the situation. Lets say that there
is a man named Bill. Bill has been fighting an urge to kill someone for a long time
but refrains from acting on it because of the possible consequences. To ensure he
does not get caught he plans on the day that he will carry out the murder, how he is
going to do it, how he will dispose of the body, and how he will provide an alibi just
in case someone catches on. Everything is set in place for him to carry out the
