Nicomachean Ethics Miss Johnson

Book X According to Aristotle, our highest goal in life is our own personal happiness “highest virtue” (834) He argues that ultimate happiness comes from contemplation; his reasoning is: Contemplation is one of the most intelligent activities we can do because contemplation is undertaken merely for the sake of further understanding (greater contemplation) Contemplation can be done continuously unlike other virtues “those who know will pas their time more pleasantly than those who inquire” (834) All other virtues require other people to work; but philosophers (contemplators) are “self-sufficient” (834)

Book X Happiness is equated with leisure because “we are busy that we may have leisure, and make war that we may live in peace” (834) Godly virtue; must be done during leisure Endless contemplation can only be done by a god; thus it is a godly virtue While we strive for the godly virtue we must also be ourselves “that which is proper to each thing is by nature best and most pleasant for each thing; for man, therefore, the life according to reason is best and pleasantest, since reason more than anything else is man” (835) “Therefore the activity of God, which surpasses all other in blessedness, must be contemplative” (836)

Book X All other virtues require both will and deed “It is debated, too, whether the will or the deed is more essential to virtue, which is assumed to involve both; it is surely clear that its perfection involves both” (836) “the man who is contemplating the truth needs no such thing” (836 Argues that learning about happiness is not good enough It must become habit through repetition