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WHAT IS HAPPINESS?. What is happiness? Is there such thing as ‘happiness that is final in itself’? Why?. HAPPINESS (TELEOLOGICAL). Every action is directed towards the good/end BECAUSE: goal is worthwhile (GOOD) all ends are final ends? REAL HAPPINESS?:
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What is happiness? • Is there such thing as ‘happiness that is final in itself’? Why?
HAPPINESS (TELEOLOGICAL) • Every action is directed towards the good/end • BECAUSE: • goal is worthwhile (GOOD) • all ends are final ends? • REAL HAPPINESS?: • End that is never desirable for the sake of something else
HAPPINESS & ACTIVITY: • goals are goods that are achievable by? • Action (ACTUALITY & POTENTIALITY). • POTENTIALITY IS MANIFESTED IN ACTIVITY (ACTUALITY) • ULTIMATE HAPPINESS = • ULTIMATE GOAL = ACHIEVABLE BY ONE FINAL ACTION
What is pleasant is in the activity Activity done for the sake of the end Where does good reside? Activity or in the end?
ACTIONS NOT DONE VERY WELL? REGRETS & RESENTMENTS: RATIONAL SOUL IS NOT CONTENTED HUMAN TIME EXCELLENT ACTION? VIRTUOUS ACTION = RATIONAL (SOUL) = HAPPINESS IRRATIONAL = COMMON TO OTHER SPECIES
HAPPY MAN LIVES WELL & DOES WELL HAPPINESS IS A SHARED ACTIVITY MAKING THE BEST CIRCUMSTANCES : CREATION OF POLIS
VIRTUES = anything that is related to the idea of goodness (something that is rational/ “excellent activity of the soul”) • INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES • PHILOSOPHICAL • Acquired/ inherited • Education/ culture • PRACTICAL • Application of judgment • MORAL VIRTUES: 3 kinds of soul • HABITS: repeating actions • PASSIONS/ VEGETATIVE • PLEASURE/PAIN • FACULTIES (Body) • Senses • STATE OF CHARACTER: • EXCESS, DEFICIENCY, MEAN • MEAN: EXCELLENCE
MORAL VIRTUES • Concerned with pleasures and pain (passion) • Pleasures: • we do bad things • Pain: • abstain from noble ones. • Acquired through “practice, imitation, and habit”(“ethike”) • Dictated by nature? • E.g. stone • Men become builders by building • We are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit.
STATES OF CHARACTER (rational soul) • Conditions in which we stand… • well or • badly • with reference to the passions • State in which virtue resides. • Virtue = excellence • Excellent = aiming at the intermediate (disposition of virtue) • lying in a mean (DEFICIENCY, EXCESS, MEAN)
T-O-P-M-W= EXCELLENCE To feel pleasure and pain at: RIGHT = MEAN • the right time, • with reference to the right object, • towards the right people, • with the right motive, • and in the right way.
EVERY ACTION/ PASSION ADMITS OF A MEAN? • Adultery • Murder • Theft • Gluttony • Cheating • Rape
NOT EVERY ACTION NOR EVERY PASSION ADMITS OF A MEAN • Some have names = imply badness • Impossibility = • negative meanings to be right. • One must always be wrong. • Impossible to commit adultery: • the right woman, • at the right time, • and in the right way.
EVERY ACTION IS DIRECTED TOWARDS THE GOAL/ END (TELEOLOGICAL) = MOTION? “THE ONLY PERMANENT THING IN THIS WORLD IS CHANGE (movement)…” • MATTER + FORM • SUBSTANCE • TELEOLOGICAL • HAPPINESS • LOVE • CHANGE AND MOTION: ACTUALITY & POTENTIALITY • 4 CAUSES OF SUBSTANCES
ARISTOTLE’S SUBSTANCE Aristotle’s Substance: • An object with both form and matter. • FORM = • Function (peculiar to one/ not common with others) • Function of man? • Rational principle (life that is in activity) • MATTER = • Composition/ Properties • Individuation • Uniqueness • E.G. • STUDENT: • Form: study • Matter: study well with extraordinary strategies • GIRLFRIEND • Form: company • Matter: company (better/worst); “reciprocity = complete” • PARENT • Direct • Direct (understands); accepts
ARISTOTLE’S ACTUALITY & POTENTIALITY • Acorn’s matter (uniqueness) contains the potentiality of becoming an oak tree. • Becoming an oak tree is the acorn’s actuality. • Each individual substance (form & matter) is a self-contained teleological (goal-oriented) system.
4 causes of all substances • MATERIAL CAUSE • FORMAL CAUSE • EFFICIENT CAUSE • FINAL CAUSE
4 causes of all substances • MATERIAL CAUSE (objective) • “Stuff” /OBJECT out of which something is made • E.g. chunk of marble that is to become a statue. STATUE
? b) Formal Cause (Subjective) • This exists both in the mind of the artist (subject) • Potentially in the marble (object) itself.
c) Efficient Cause (action itself) • Force = • change is possible • What is the “efficient cause” in this picture?
d) Final Cause • Ultimate purpose of the object. • End product
HAPPINESS THAT IS FINAL IN ITSELF MORAL VIRTUES: 3 kinds of soul • HABITS: repeating actions • PASSIONS (DISCONTENTMENT:) • PLEASURE/PAIN • FACULTIES (Body) • Senses (DESIRE MORE) • EXPRECT MORE: DISAPPOINTEMENT • STATE OF CHARACTER: • EXCESS, DEFICIENCY, MEAN • MEAN: EXCELLENCE