Aristotle's Definition Of Happiness In Political Philosophy

I want to inform you about a few things that I learned about happiness in political philosophy this semester. Since you’ve asked me what political philosophy is, I’ll start out by explaining that. In a very general sense, political philosophy is trying to answer the question of how we ought to live in society as human beings. At the beginning the year, I asked you what you thought happiness was (hoping you could give me some ideas for my first essay to be written on it), and neither of us could really put our finger on exactly how to define happiness. Well do not fear, because Aristotle is here! In Aristotle’s definition of perfect happiness, there are precise qualifications that must be met. He gives a very basic equation of what happiness …show more content…
In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle states that “happiness is an activity of the soul in conformity with perfect virtue” (I.XIII). This means that we are more likely to have perfect happiness if we have virtues. Some of the moral virtues include courage, gentleness, temperance, while the intellectual virtues include knowledge, wisdom, and reason. These are all things that you should aim towards if you want to be happy. An interesting fact is that the best defining principle of a city is happiness. Aristotle says that the best regime will produce the most happiness in people. According to this, Bath North Carolina must be the best regime because it definitely produces the most happiness in people. Aristotle does warn that everybody in the best regime is not necessarily guaranteed happiness, but they are much more likely to have it in the best regime, than in the worst regime. The most important thing I learned from Aristotle is that happiness is the ultimate aim, there is nothing beyond that. For example, why do I want summer to come? So I can go to Bath. Why do I want to go to Bath? So that I can see you. Why do I want to see you? Because you make me the