Archive for March 2007
The Pursuit of Happiness from the Nicomachean Ethics
After a day of work, as I was reading the papers, I chanced upon this article. Enjoy.
Excerpted from The Straits Times March 28, 2007 by Gary Hayden:
Aristotle (384-322BC) was born in Macedonia. He later travelled to Athens, and enrolled in Plato’s school of philosophy, the Academy. He was enormously talented and eventually opened his own school, the Lyceum.
Aristotle’s achievements were mind-blowing. He organised the various sciences into the categories we use today, such as biology, physics and psychology. He invented logic, the branch of philosophy that studies valid reasoning and argument. And he wrote authoritatively on a bewildering variety of subjects, including politics, ethics, metaphysics, aesthetics and literary criticism.
At one time, he tutored Alexander the Great, a fellow Macedonian. Following Alexander’s death in 323BC, anti-Macedonian feeling spread throughout Athens. Aristotle found himself under a trumped-up charge of impiety, and fled to Chalcis, where he died a year later, aged 62.
Aristotle’s views on happiness can be found in one of philosophy’s great works: the Nicomachean Ethics.
He begins by demonstrating that happiness is the ultimate aim of human life.
We all seek after many things: wealth, reputation, knowledge, friendship. Some of these things have intrinsic value, but at least part of the reason for seeking them is that we believe they will make us happy. The only thing we seek entirely for its own sake is happiness. Therefore, happiness is the supreme good.
So far, this is common sense. But when Aristotle delves deeper into the nature of happiness, he makes two surprising claims: first, that happiness is an activity; and second, that we can talk meaningfully about happiness only in the context of an entire life, not just isolated parts.
The notion that happiness is an activity is a strange one. We tend to equate happiness with pleasure or enjoyment, and therefore view it as either a feeling or a possession – something we have rather than something we do.
But on closer reflection, this does not ring true. It is easy to imagine someone, perhaps a pop singer or movie star, whose life consists of one pleasure after another. But it still makes sense to ask whether that person is happy.
A happy life involves more than passive enjoyment. Otherwise, a life of pleasant drug-induced dreams would qualify as a happy one.
Happiness involves living the right way, not just feeling the right way.
A happy life requires a sense of fulfilment – the feeling that we are doing something with our lives, and making something of ourselves. To achieve this requires effort and commitment, which is why Aristotle describes happiness as “an activity of the soul”.
What about his second claim – that happiness can be judged only in the context of an entire life? Perhaps this can be illustrated by an example.
Last week I ate lunch at a pizza restaurant. The lunchtime special was an all-you-can-eat buffet, which was advertised with the slogan: “Unleash the happiness.”
The meal was perfectly enjoyable, but it would be nonsense to say that it made me happy. No single moment of pleasure is sufficient for happiness, because happiness is a long-term pursuit.
In fact, the headlong pursuit of pleasure will prevent you from achieving happiness. Watching TV is more enjoyable than studying for an exam. But sometimes, it is necessary to forgo the TV in order to prepare for the exam. By denying ourselves instant gratification, we build a more lasting kind of happiness.
Aristotle says that it is only when a man is old that we can truly judge whether his life has been a happy one. Perhaps this is taking things a bit too far. But his point is valid. It is only in the context of an entire life that happiness can be judged.
“For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does a day; and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a person blessed and happy.” (Aristotle)
In the modern world, it is all too easy to lose sight of what makes for a happy life.
The advertisements and lifestyle magazines suggest that if we fill our lives with restaurant meals, sexy lingerie and foreign vacations, we will be satisfied and fulfilled. But Aristotle reminds us that there is more to happiness than that. Much more.
Happiness requires us to take the long view, to rise to the challenges of life and to develop our potential as human beings. This takes effort and commitment. You have to be in it for the long haul.
