The Chief Good
Vague yet Intriguing
According to our Greek philosopher, everything is done to achieve some "good" or "end". This does
make sense to some degree but I'm not sure if I agree with it completely as some things are done
just for the sake of doing them and not to achieve something or get an "end". For example, most of
the things we do in our spare time, are not things we do to gain something from or expect to get
something out of it, we just do it to do it. Aristotle argues that there is a "chief good" that is over and
above all the other goods and that every single action leads to this one particular good. The chief
good has to be complete and self-sufficient. "But the chief good manifestly is something complete."
(p 10, Nicomachean Ethics) "We think happiness to be such, and indeed the thing most of all worth
choosing, not counted as just one thing among others." (p 11, Nicomachean Ethics). Now this is
something that provokes a thought but really is something I think I completely agree with. Happiness
itself, as vague as it may sound, is essentially what everyone wants.
Talking about the characteristic trait of humans, reason and logical thinking is in fact what separates
us and can be the one thing that makes us unique and different from the other species. But I don't
feel that it is because of this characteristic that the human good now becomes living with virtue and
reason. As said by Aristotle, "the human good turns out to be activity of the soul in accordance with
virtue, and if there are several virtues, in accordance with the best and most complete." (p 12,
Nicomachean Ethics) I am ready to get behind the fact that the characteristic activity of human
beings is indeed virtue and reason, but it becoming the chief good because of that, is not something
I completely understand nor do I find it to be true.