Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing Essay -- Aristotle Philosophy Philoso

Eudaimonia and Human FlourishingAristotle describes three types of life in his search for kind flourishing lives of gratification, politics, and contemplation. He contends that there is a single paper of Good that all men seek, and he perplexs 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 most complete happiness in us. Aristotle is correct regarding the necessity of activity, but restricts the theory to scarce the life of study. We will reject this restriction, and instead allow any life of virtue and productivity to substitute for Aristotles life of study. One primary inwardness of remaining active to achieve happiness includes loving friendships, which only happen to the virtuous. Thus human flourishing is living a life of virtue, activity, and productivity. Aristotle proposes that we mother a single Idea of Good which is both complete and self-sufficient, chosen entirely for itself, and that end is happiness. He must establish these three claims Idea of Good say 1) We have ends which we choose for themselves.Idea of Good Claim 2) That there is only one 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 and futile. 1.2.We have a gut feeling that some desires are non 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 luck us remain active and virtuous. We can apply a broader application of this search for happiness by allowing lives other than that of study and contemplation to be pursued, as long as virtue and loving friendships are present. To arrive at this conclusion we postulated two of Aristotles premises (see Postulate 1 and Postulate 2) allowing these runway 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 make to Nicomachean Ethics, written by Aristotle, translated by Terrence Irwin. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. 1999.