Aristotle+D+p.+102-104


 * __Make sure that you summarize and get to the heart of his logical argument.

Section 7.__**

Aristotle states that in each field there is a certain good. "In medicine this is health, in strategy victory, in architecture a house, in any other sphere something else..." (102). Each action/field has a final goal we try to pursue. He continuous to state that all ends are not final, but the ultimate, "chief good", is something final; so, in actuality, there is only one final end: happiness. He adds that "we choose always for self and never for the sake of something else, but honor, pleasure, reason, and every vitue we choose indeed for themselves, but we choose them also for the sake of happiness" (103). Honor, pleasure, reason, and every other virtue we choose to do for their specific benefits, but we also choose them because they lead to happiness. However, we do not choose to have happiness to reach another feeling, so happiness is only chosen for the sake of happiness itself. He continuous saying that the final good, happiness, is self sufficient because when nothing else is present happiness can make us feel desirable and that nothing else is lacking in life. Aristotle points out that happiness is not just another "good" that humans want, buth the final "good" that humans achieve. This becuase happiness is not just added to other goods to make them better, but rather happiness is just a final action. He adds that it also means that when the final good is achieved life is at it's peek because nothing is lacking. So, happiness is a final goal we all strive to achieve and by itself will make a life fulfilled. He then goes on to question what the function of man is. He explains that plants have living and survival characteristics; animals have instincts to live and movement; and, humans have both the plant and animal characteristics as well as rational thought and perception. Man's purpose is to exercise his soul through rational thought and to be a good man through good actions. Aristotle concludes by saying that men must try to live and analyze naturally and define pains because "they have a great influence on what follows."
 * Shaina Rose Weiner

Aristotle states that "clearly not all ends are final ends; but the cheif good is evidently something final", a statement that begins to explain that while there are many ends that lead to many more ends, they all come down to a simple 'good' "which is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else". We can tell we have reached this end when there is no reason why we want something, there is nothing it will bring us other than itself, and it is good in itself. Aristotle continues to explain that there are many virtues we choose simply for themselves, but also for the happiness they bring. Happiness, however, "no one chooses doe the sake of these, nor..for anything other than itself", making it the final end.

Aristotle begins the section explaining that there is happiness in many things, but there is only one true happiness. He believes that you are not truly happy until you have reached happiness itself. And there are times when people choose a virtue for itself, such as honor, pleasure, or reason, and these are fine, but true Happiness is chosen for nothing other than itself. This idea compares to our knowledge of Socrates' belief in the Gods. There may be gods of water, earth, or fire, but they all are answerable to one unifying God. Aristotle then begins to discuss what seperates humans from everything else and what human good truly is. We know that we must answer to the rational principle, and that means we are associated with the highest level of truth, and we should not be distracted by anything less. When you get down to it this means that human good is the activity of the soul with the best and most complete virtue. And also to achieve the best and most complete virtue it will take time for we must live "in a complete life"(103). And to even fathom the achivement you must first lay down an outline of what is good. He states that we must "first sketch it roughly, and then later fill in the details"(103). Aristotle believes we must see the first principle naturally and at the beginning because "For the beginning is thought to be more than half of the whole, and many of the questions we ask are cleared by it"(104). -Nathan Millman

In section 7, Aristotle addresses “the good we are seeking” and what it can be. The purpose of this argument is to debate the realm of existence in which Plato’s definition of the good, excellence in function of form, supported by the 4 cardinal virtues, exists. Aristotle then begins explaining and proving his own improved definition of the good. He explains how the good can have different forms in different spheres of life but is always an end. These goods will be the ones achievable by action. He then asserts that some good are for the sake of something else, but clarifies that the “chief good” is something final. We are then presented with the idea that Happiness is the final good man is seeking because it is the one thing that we choose to strive for what it is instead of for the sake or benefit of something else. Happiness, Aristotle says, “is self sufficient, and is the end of action.” This essentially challenges Plato on what realm the good actually exists in by proposing that because happiness is achievable by action, it is part of our attainable and physical realm, not part of an inaccessible higher realm. He concludes his outline of the good by discussing how man’s function is his ability to have a rational soul. Finally, Aristotle reminds us that as “spectators of truth”, we must look for classes of things and not for their particular function or use and we must try and conduct this investigation into our world in a natural way. ~Aaron Richardson