1. Aristotle and the Good Life
                                                   

2. For Aristotle, morality is the study of the good life.
The good life includes
good choices,
good actions,
good habits,
good character.

3. But what is “The Good”?
When a thing has a proper operation, the good of the thing and its well-being consist in that operation

4. The Good
A good computer is one that operates as it was designed to. It computes well.

5. A good saw operates as it was designed to: it cuts well
A good plant acts according to its nature (functions well). Grows, reproduces, nourishes itself.

6. according to its animal nature
A good dog functions
according to its animal nature
Runs, senses (follow a scent), fetches sticks, barks, defends house, etc.

7. A good man functions well Man’s specific operation (function):
Intellect (to think)
Will (to choose)
Hence, a good man reasons well and chooses well.

8. Questions:
Is possible for a person to achieve everything that he has set out to achieve in life and in the end find himself unhappy?
Is it possible to have a wife/husband, children, house, and a good job, and at the same time still be unhappy?

9. If the answer to the first question is “yes”, then does it not follow that happiness is not necessarily doing what you want to do?
If the answer to the second question is “yes”, does it not follow that happiness is not necessarily having a wife/husband, children, house, and a good job?

10. Not something that comes from the outside in
What then is happiness?
Happiness
Not something that comes from the outside in
Rather, happiness is an inside job

11. Happiness is: Activity in accordance with perfect virtue
For Aristotle, happiness results from the fulfillment of one’s human nature.
And since one’s nature is fulfilled or perfected by the virtues, it follows that:
Happiness is: Activity in accordance with perfect virtue
Happiness is fullness of being. For that is the meaning of “good”. The good is fullness of being. The good life is the happy life. The good life is one that is most fully what it is meant to be. Now, human goodness means human well being, or fullness of human nature. A good human action is one that promotes the fullness of one’s being.
The virtues perfect the powers of human nature. And so one cannot be happy without virtue. That is why pleasure or financial security have never succeeded in bringing anyone the happiness that they long for. Virtue must come before wealth and pleasure.

12. Repeated activity leads to habit
Repeated activity leads to habit. A virtue is a habit that makes us good. A vice is a bad habit that disposes us to what is evil or deficient.

13. Contrary to Socrates and Plato, Aristotle does not teach that virtue is knowledge. Indeed, there are intellectual virtues, but the intellectual virtues do not make us morally good. One may have the virtues of science, wisdom, and understanding, but remain unjust, cowardly and intemperate.

14. If happiness is the fulfillment of human nature, what are the powers in human nature that need to be fulfilled?
Reason (intelligence)
Will
The Concupiscible Appetite
The Irascible Appetite
Let’s look at each one:

15. Reason (intelligence): Intelligence is the power that distinguishes you from brute animals. It is the power that enables you to think. But not everyone thinks well. Morally speaking, Hitler did not think well.

16. Will: The will is not the same as feelings.
The will is what enables you to get out of bed every morning. You don’t feel like getting out of bed, but you choose to do so anyways.
You may not feel like taking a bad tasting medicine, but you choose to do so anyways. That’s the will.
A dog has no will. Put a piece of red meat in front of a hungry dog, and it will eat it.

17. The Concupiscible Appetite: This is the pleasure appetite
The Concupiscible Appetite: This is the pleasure appetite. This appetite gives rise to sense desire. Animals have this desire, which is why the hungry dog will necessarily eat the red meat.

18. The Irascible Appetite: Otherwise called the aggressive appetite
The Irascible Appetite: Otherwise called the aggressive appetite. This appetite gives rise to the emotions of anger, fear and daring. This dog is either afraid and running for its life, or it is angry and pursuing the object of his anger.

19. Concupiscible appetite
Sense appetites
Pleasure appetite
Irascible appetite
Aggressive appetite

20. Sometime the appetites rebel against reason
I.e.,
The person who easily gives up when things become difficult.
The person who runs when there is danger.
The person who cannot hold a job because he has no self-control over alcoholic drink.
The person who has no control over his sexual appetite, and so can think of nothing other than sex.

21. The good life (the moral life) begins by bringing order to one’s life.

22. Concupiscible appetite
Disorder
Concupiscible appetite
Irascible appetite
Intellect
Will
Bestial

23. Concupiscible appetite
Ordered Life
Reason
Will
Concupiscible appetite
Irascible appetite

24. Good Character The Moral Virtues The Intellect The Will
The irascible appetite
The concupiscible appetite
Prudence
Justice
Courage
Temperance

25. Justice: Rendering to another his due. The parts of justice are:
Prudence: Wisdom. Knowing what is the morally right choice to make. The ability to apply moral principles to concrete situations.
Justice: Rendering to another his due. The parts of justice are:
Piety renders due honor to parents.
Religion renders due honor to God.
Observance renders due honor to those in public office.
General Justice renders due honor to the civil community as a whole (the state).

26. Fortitude: The virtue that moderates the emotions of fear and daring.

27. This is not fortitude
This is “Daring”.

28. Temperance: The virtue that moderates the pleasures of touch (the pleasures of eating, drinking, and sexual activity).

29. This is not temperance, but gluttony.

30. According to Aristotle, happiness is goodness or virtue
According to Aristotle, happiness is goodness or virtue. If a person has cultivated the virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance, such a person is good. And a good person is a happy person.

31. Why is this more in accordance with the facts?
It’s not having a wife/husband, children, house, and a good job that will make one happy, since many who have such things remain unhappy.
Only a virtuous person will be able to be a good husband/wife, a good parent, and a person committed to the good of the state.
It isn’t doing what you want that renders one happy, but being good or virtuous, that is, having good character.
It is impossible for a virtuous person (character) to be unhappy

32. Secondary Instances of the Kalon
The good life also includes secondary aspects that add to the happy life. They do not constitute the happy life, but they add to it. Many people today confuse the secondary instances of the Kalon with the primary. Happiness is found in virtue, not in these secondary instances.
Most people confuse the secondary instances of the Kalon with the primary instance. The secondary instances include good health and appearance, full life span, friendships, good family origin, sufficient wealth, etc.
See Next Slide

33. Good Health and Appearance
Friendship and
Cooperation with
Others
Pleasure
Good Health and Appearance
Respectable Family
Origin
Proper Nourishment and Sustenance
Full Life Span
Leisure, good fortune
Sufficient wealth

35. What does good character look like?
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

36. What does good character look like?

37. What does good character look like?