Elina Riuttanen
Vaajakosken lukio
Opettaja Suvi Torkki
2. The Pursuit of
Happiness
Aristotle's virtue
ethics has been disregarded in modern ethics. Virtue ethics has its own
flaws, naturally, but so do all theories. The good thing about virtue
ethics, however, is that it concentrates on life as a whole, not just
little fragments of it like most other theories. Life is a neverending
pursuit of happiness.
According to Aristotle, there are four reasons for
the existence of any being: the material, the formal, the moving and the
final reason. The problem is, that we cannot know what is, for example,
the final reason of man. Aristotle thought it might be happiness, for
happiness is the one thing all human beings search for. It is never used
as a means of getting something or somewhere. Growing happy, it seems, is
our telos (fate), just like growing into an oak might be the telos of an
acorn. Happiness is a value in itself.
All this raises a question: "By what means can we
become happy?" Aristotle defines the conditions under which a person can
become happy. First of all one has to have adequate materialistic
resources in order to be capable of concentrating on developing his mind.
Needless to say, one has to be a man -- unfortunately Aristotle did not
consider women capable of happiness. This was due to their inability to
control their emotions.
Unlike the Stoic thinkers, Aristotle does not
dismiss all emotions as futile. As he states in his Nicomachean Ethics,
"some desires and pleasures relate to things that are noble and good in
kind". By this he means the pleasures of the mind, rather than those of
the body. Even in this case, however, pleasure is merely a way of becoming
happy.
In order to become happy one has to develop one's
abilities, both physical and mental. Aristotle also classifies virtues
into two categories: the virtues of character and the virtues of reason or
intellect. The virtues of reason can be improved by education, the virtues
of character by upbringing. By repeating acts considered good one becomes
a more virtuous person. Some can do good things because of their strong
will, but they cannot become happy. A good person does not have to strive
to do good.
When all these conditions are attained, in addition
to living with moderation and having good social contacts, a person can be
defined as happy. The major advantage of this theory is that it gives us
something to reach for, an aim. The mere act of searching may be enough to
make a person happy. All in all, virtue ethics gives us hope -- there is
such a thing as happiness and it can be reached.
