POLS 320 Lecture Notes - Lecture 29: Eudaimonia, Natural Justice, Nicomachean Ethics
6 Oct 2020
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Aristotle thinks one of the ways humans are distinctive is in the way we live our lives according to a plan - unlike animals, humans are deliberate about our actions and desired goals. All human actions are purposive" - every action has some purpose or end [gr. telos] connected to it. But not all goals are equally valuable - some are more valuable than others: Aristotle speculates that there must, in theory, be some ultimate good which every person desires for its own sake - not because it leads to some other good (otherwise, the process would go on to infinity"). A person who enjoys eudaimonia is one who is fully human, fully flourishing, and living a wholly complete and good life. Jowett sometimes translates this as a noble" or honorable" life. Live a virtuous life", because eudaimonia is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue". Virtue is a mean and generally to be found between extremes.
