How do you define happiness according to Aristotle's ethical philosophy? And how can one attain it?

Question

How do you define happiness according to Aristotle's ethical philosophy? And how can one attain it?

Answer 1

For Aristotle, happiness (eudaimonia) is that activity of the soul which functions in accord with excellence. Happiness thus is the highest good since it is desired (or ought to be desired) for its own sake and is the end toward which all other goods strive. This state attained is a soul that is flourishing. Aristotle says that living well and faring well is being happy. (NE bk. 1. sec. 2, 4). But happiness, or eudaimonia, is more than just a stae of being for Aristotle. Aristotle's metaphysics requires that souls necessarily persist in--are inseperable from--bodies. Thus, happiness and achieving it will always be in reference to the fulfillment of bodily needs to some extent. And to fulfill one's bodily needs--whereby one reaches eudaimonia--requires living in accord with certain intellectual and moral virtues, all of which are governed by means of rational judgment.

The mind discerns the virtues as lying between the mean of two or more extreme possiblilities. If I am overly brave (behaving with braveness inappropriate to the level of bravery rationally called for) I will be foolhardy in battle; if I am  insufficiently aggresive in battle, then I'll be cowardly.

A great source of confusion arises here: Rationally judging the appropriate virtue lying between the mean IS NOT logically equivalent to choosing what is the middle of two extremes. This simply does not follow since what is in the middle of two extremes may still, in some context relative to some agent, be an extreme. The mean is not absolute; the mean may be different for different people, and for different situations. Some virtues are not means between two extremes. For instance, there is never a time, according to Aristotle, in which murder (which is different than killing) can be regarded as a virtue which is lying between two extremes.

This leads to Aristotle's notion of happiness to also include, not only the rational disposition to choose  the mean, but also the disposition to choose that mean in accord with practical wisdom, reserved for those who are enlightened by having consistently lived the contemplative life. The contemplative life is one devoted to the highest objects of knowledge (for Aristotle this is ultimately a theological notion, but one which ought not to be confused with any christian conception of God).

A flourishing life--a happy life--is one which consists of numerous requirements having been fulfilled to some degree. These include those things which preserve and maintain physical well-being such as, a certain level of material well-being, health, sexual satisfaction, good familial and friendship bonds, and a comely appearance. Additionally, certain intellectual and moral needs ought to be met as well. And it is a well ordered and just state and community which preserves the freedom to have such a life.

Thus eudaimonia--happiness--for Aristotle is an inclusive notion consisting of life in accord with intellectual and moral virtues, rational contemplation, and securing certain physical needs, such that one is flourishing.

Answer 2

How can one attain it? How can one attain breath? By living it. Do not believe in sadness, do not believe in happiness. They're just words. Just live, live in the moment, and you will truly live.

Answer 3

The greatest Aristotilean since St. Thomas Aquinas was Ayn Rand. Let me quote some of the ways she "defined" it.

"I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head and I spread my arms. This, my body and spirit, this is the end of the quest. I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. I wished to find a warrant for being. I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction."

[1] "Anthem"

That description is where it begins, in rational self-interest. That description is also from the "soul," a thing she knew was very real, because she talked about it so much.

"Happiness is the successful state of life, pain is an agent of death. Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values."

[2] Galt's speech; "Atlas Shrugged" and "For the New Intellectual"

"By the grace of reality and the nature of life, man—every man—is an end in himself, he exists for his own sake, and the achievement of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose.

"But neither life nor happiness can be achieved by the pursuit of irrational whims. Just as man is free to attempt to survive in any random manner, but will perish unless he lives as his nature requires, so he is free to seek his happiness in any mindless fraud, but the torture of frustration is all he will find, unless he seeks the happiness proper to man. The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live." [2]

"It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the judgment of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect." [1]

"Happiness is not to be achieved at the command of emotional whims. Happiness is not the satisfaction of whatever irrational wishes you might blindly attempt to indulge. Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy—a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that does not clash with any of your values and does not work for your own destruction, not the joy of escaping from your mind, but of using your mind’s fullest power, not the joy of faking reality, but of achieving values that are real, not the joy of a drunkard, but of a producer. Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing but rational actions.

"Just as I support my life, neither by robbery nor alms, but by my own effort, so I do not seek to derive my happiness from the injury or the favor of others, but earn it by my own achievement. Just as I do not consider the pleasure of others as the goal of my life, so I do not consider my pleasure as the goal of the lives of others. Just as there are no contradictions in my values and no conflicts among my desires—so there are no victims and no conflicts of interest among rational men, men who do not desire the unearned and do not view one another with a cannibal’s lust, men who neither make sacrifices nor accept them." [2]

"I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.

"Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars." [1]

"In psychological terms, the issue of man’s survival does not confront his consciousness as an issue of “life or death,” but as an issue of “happiness or suffering.” Happiness is the successful state of life, suffering is the warning signal of failure, of death. Just as the pleasure-pain mechanism of man’s body is an automatic indicator of his body’s welfare or injury, a barometer of its basic alternative, life or death—so the emotional mechanism of man’s consciousness is geared to perform the same function, as a barometer that registers the same alternative by means of two basic emotions: joy or suffering. Emotions are the automatic results of man’s value judgments integrated by his subconscious; emotions are estimates of that which furthers man’s values or threatens them, that which is for him or against him—lightning calculators giving him the sum of his profit or loss."

[3] "The Objectivist Ethics"; from "The Virtue of Selfishness"

"Neither life nor happiness can be achieved by the pursuit of irrational whims. Just as man is free to attempt to survive by any random means, as a parasite, a moocher or a looter, but not free to succeed at it beyond the range of the moment—so he is free to seek his happiness in any irrational fraud, any whim, any delusion, any mindless escape from reality, but not free to succeed at it beyond the range of the moment nor to escape the consequences." [3]

"And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride.

This god, this one word:

"I." [1]