Aristotle on Happiness
...st excellence and virtue. It’s because of this hierarchy that more of his focus was on the primary form, but what he does agree on is that happiness is the greatest good. In achieving something like happiness Aristotle seems to focus particularly on how reason, our rational capacity, should help us recognize and pursue what will lead to happiness and the good life. Aristotle defines “good” as that which everything aims (class notes). He does not limit ‘everything’ to just the human mind and draws on the soul, being part of his reasoning, as a part of the human body that which also plays a large role in pursuing true happiness and reaching a desirable end. Sometimes the end that people aim for is the activity they perform, and other times the end is something we attempt to achieve by means of that activity. Aristotle claims that there must be some end since everything cannot be means to something else (class notes). Aristotle also stresses that “life in accordance with the mind does not seek any result other than itself and therefore is loved for itself” (Hadot 79). Aristotle makes the claim that for no reason, other then the goal itself being its own reward, can an individual seek and achieve true happiness. Some people believe that happiness is achieved through wealth, honor, pleasure, or even virtue. Aristotle arg...