Compare and Contrast Plato and Aristotle on Well-Being

Compare and contrast Plato and Aristotle on well-being. Well-Being: The state of being healthy happy or prosperous. It seems obvious to suggest that the goal we all are aiming at is total happiness; total success and fulfillment. In the Nichomachean ethics, Aristotles main aim is to provide a description of what this so-called happiness actually is, and how we can go about our day to day lives in order to achieve the best life that we possibly can. He begins book one with what philosophers call a Teleological conception of life. That is, everything we do is aiming at some end: every art and every investigation, and similarly every action and pursuit, is considered to aim at some good. Hence the good has been rightly defined as†¦show more content†¦And we have now decided that our activities are performed in accordance with our function. We know that the supreme good, eudaimonia, is an end at which all of our actions aim. So now one has to determine what it is that is the highest of all practical activity, since all actions are subordinate to some other, and that there must, conclusively, be some practicality that is above all others, and which is the final good that aims at eudaimonia. The first step of Aristotles Nichomachean ethics opens as Aristotles apparent concern with the good in two rational realms: Production (poiesis) and deliberate action (praxis). In (1.1.1094a3-6) Aristotle submits that there is a clean-cut distinction between these two realms. He says that some are activities and others results distinct from the activities. What he means to say, in my view, is that the product of our actions is the practicable good. For example: A chosen action could be to study for A-levels, if one does well then to go to university; for this would be the product of the latter. To attend university is also an action in itself, since it is aiming at a product, and that product would be a satisfactory career. But if we were to go on relating every action to its own product, then we would be sure to go on into infinity, for, as I have noted, all actions are subordinate t o some other action. Therefore, the study of this Practicable Good is the answer to our problem. G. Lawrence, on pageShow MoreRelatedPlato and Aristotle: An Analysis1175 Words   |  5 PagesThis four-page undergraduate essay explains, compares, and contrasts the theories and discussions of Plato and Aristotle regarding the best political association. Quotes from Politics and the Republic are used to support the author’s thesis. 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