Book Review: Contemporary Moral Problems
Chapter 8: Aristotle: Happiness and Virtue
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Moral-Problems-James-White/dp/0495553204
Learning Expectations:
1. To know Aristotle’s view on Happiness and Virtue
2. To differentiate his view from what I know
3. To learn new philosophies about Happiness and Virtue
Quote:
“Aristotle argues that all human beings seek happiness, and that happiness is not pleasure, honor, or
wealth, but an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue.”
Review:
Happiness from what I know is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love,
satisfaction, pleasure, or joy and virtue is a character trait or quality valued as being always good in and of itself.
For Aristotle happiness is a virtuously activity of the soul. It is something that you can gain through
contemplating. Happiness is said to be related with virtue because according to Aristotle, virtue is a state of
character that concerned with the intermediate, mean or what we commonly known as middle maybe because
having too much or even too less of something is not good. Aristotle also said that Moral virtue is what makes
the mean. Moral virtue is something that a product of training and habits, it is also the mean between the vices
of excess and deficiency. According to him, moral virtue wasn’t arises by nature because you can’t change
natural things, like the way you can’t train the rain to pour from your feet upwards.
Happiness always goes with virtue and virtue must always go with happiness. Whenever we do
something good, we have this happiness inside us because of that action and every time we are happy we
always tend to do something of virtue. I hope doing something of virtue doesn’t only happen when people are
happy but because they know what is right and what is wrong and they follow the teachings that they learned
from school, church, guardians and society.
What I’ve Learned:
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We are the one who creates our own happiness.
Happiness and virtue always go together.
Being happy doesn’t just benefit yourself but it also benefit others through the concept of
virtue.
Integrative Questions:
1. What is Happiness?
2. What is Virtue?
3. How does happiness and virtue affect the way people live?