Fulfilling Desires: Virtue and Happiness

Fulfilling Desires: Virtue and Happiness

All humans have desires. These desires are for the things that people think they need to experience the best life possible. Because all humans are different, they all have different desires. Aristotle states that the ultimate desire or end goal is happiness. He states that the way that one achieves happiness matters greatly. He states that in order to have the best life there is a certain way a person should live. There are the right things to do in ones life, but there are wrongs things as well. Aristotle demonstrates through his Nicomachean Ethics that true happiness can be reached through living life virtuously. By performing actions that are virtuous and by following what he states as true virtue, a person can fulfill the ultimate desire for a happy life. Aristotle argues that happiness is attained through virtue.

In Book I of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle states that happiness is the ultimate “good.” He begins with how we come to seeing virtue as the ultimate way to achieve happiness. He states that “Goods” are the things that supply humans with the best experiences of life. There are many different ways that people would believe is happiness. Some would say physical pleasures such as eating or sex. Others might say that being wealthy or having honors is happiness. When looking at these different “goods,” Aristotle points out that he sees that the ends of these examples is happiness, making it the ultimate good. Most people want physical pleasures because the ends make them happy. They do not choose them because the wish to be unhappy. Happiness is the ultimate end of a person’s desire.