Great Ideas of Philosophy

Lecture FourteenAristotle on the Perfect LifeScope: What sort of life is right for us? What is about us that wouldmake this the right sort of life? Aristotle actually reaches rather different answers to this central problem ofconduct. He beginshis examination by acknowledging that our actions are impelledby the quest for a form of happiness (eudaimonia), but this only moves the issue back a notch to thequestion of just what countsas eudaimonia.If we take the word to refer to that which is sought for its own sake and not in order to obtain some morebasic form of happiness, then we might conclude that the right form of life is one that is removed,contemplative, and devoted to inquiries into the sublime and eternal. If, however, we take the word to referto the creative conditions capable of sustaining and promoting eudaimonia itself, then the best form of lifeis that lived by the good lawgiver, active within the polis.OutlineI. We continue our examination of Aristotle’s two ethical treatises, Nichomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics.In particular, we look at his understanding of the problem of conduct and conflicting solutions to it.A. Virtue or excellence is of two distinguishable forms, the intellectual and the moral. The end of theintellectual virtues is knowledge of one sort or another, whereas the end of the moral virtues is theformation of character, or self-perfection. The intellectual virtues are the result of teaching and learning.The moral virtues arise from habit.B. Chief among the intellectual virtues is scientific knowledge (episteme) by which one knows the causes ofthings and the laws that govern them. Art (techne), too, is an intellectual virtue by which various things arecreated.C. Practical reason (phronesis) is yet another intellectual virtue, by which one comes to distinguish what isgood and bad, the prudent course of action, the right strategy for securing safety and prosperity, and so on.D. The right kind of life also finds us committing ourselves, committing our rational powers, to what is worththinking about. Given a choice between contemplating issues of philosophical consequence andcontemplating changes in the stock market, a more flourishing life is lived by those who contemplate theformer rather than the latter.II. Moral excellence is developed through habitual striving and a devotion to self-perfection, but why aspire tomoral excellence at all? Why should one be courageous as opposed to being a coward? Why should one betemperate as opposed to being extreme?A. To answer these questions, we must return to Aristotle’s theory of causation.B. Aristotle transforms the question “Why should I live a virtuous life?” to the more general question “Whydo I do anything? Why do I do things that involve a deliberated choice between two alternatives?”C. For Aristotle, the ultimate answer, after the question has been reduced further and further, is that weperform actions for the sake of eudaimonia. This central term is a challenge to translate.1. In many translations, eudaimonia is “happiness.” Everything that we do, we do for the sake ofhappiness, but this is not merely sensuous pleasure and the avoidance of pain.2. The best understanding of eudaimonia is not that it’s some point reached; it’s not some transient state,but a veritable form or mode of life. It’s life of a certain character and stripe, properly described as aflourishing life—eudaimonia is flourishing.3. The goal of our deliberated courses of action is a flourishing life.©2004 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership 5