POL200Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Eudaimonia, Practical Reason, Teleology
Document Summary
How would we know: a statesman or political leader must understand what human beings are like and what their good consists of. Chief subject of ethics: aristotle is asking the question of what is the good. In having that good, human beings will achieve a life that is worth living: aristotle calls this good eudaimonia. This meant having a good daima in greece (demon, fortune) The thing to choose for its own sake, not for itself. The thing you should choose for its own sake is called telos: aristotle says that the telos is some kind of activity of the soul. Activity of the soul in accordance with excellence (rather vague idea: aristotle emphasizes the notion of theoretical understanding. Mathematics, scientific truth, philosophical understanding of ideas. Studying politics is not theoretical, it is meant to be a guide to action.
