Thursday, June 21, 2018

Nicomachean Ethics [Book I] by Aristotle

TL;DR - all activity has sight of an Ultimate Goal/Good, and Man with our unique place amongst nature by the possession of a Rational Soul should seek to live his life with the Goal of developing our rational faculties in pursuit of happiness.

With the aid of SparkNotes, here's something worth mentioning: happiness is often mentioned.  And it should be noted that happiness in this context for Aristotle means not just the overall feelings that would accompany the common idea of the feeling of happiness.  Happiness is the sum total of having done something in a well-done and satisfactory manner that includes but is not limited to approval from our fellow Man and what we might consider the feeling of happiness.  It can be summed up as a life that is well-lived.  We don't just aim at things to have a feeling of happiness in any given moment, but rather we aim to do things in the best way possible to have the satisfaction of knowing that we have lived a life worth living and worthy of praise by our fellow Man.

Aristotle believed that everything in Nature has a purpose.  And since Man is the only part of Nature with a Rational Soul that this development of the Rational Soul was very likely a necessary part to our Ultimate Goal in life.

Well, that's about it for this entry.

Up next is Politics [Book I] by Aristotle.

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