The_Connection_Between_Happiness_And_Virtue

The Connection Between Happiness And Virtue The Connection Between Happiness and Virtue Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is an analysis of character and intelligence as they relate to happiness. Aristotle distinguished two kinds of "virtue," or human excellence: moral and intellectual. Moral virtue is an expression of character, formed by habits reflecting repeated choices. A moral virtue is always a mean between two less desirable extremes. Courage, for example, is a mean between cowardice and thoughtless rashness; generosity, between extravagance and parsimony. Intellectual virtues are not subject to this doctrine of the mean. Aristotle argued for an elitist ethics: Full excellence can be realized only by the mature male adult of the upper class, not by women, or children, or barbarians (non-Greeks), or salaried "mechanics" (manual workers) for whom, indeed, Aristotle did not want to allow voting rights. This idea does not hold strong, however, because it asserts that morality is a virtue or morality is a coefficient of external factors, namely rich and the poor; the educated and the uneducated, etc. However, morality is a factor by itself and can only be expressed in its true form, independent of what kind of person is expressing it. According to Aristotle, the good is "defined as that which all things aim" happiness, aristotle, good, individual, virtue, excellence, because, one, man, human, highest, definition, between, true, politics, person, morality, moral, however, goal, example, calls, action, achieved, according, understanding, sense, self-sufficient, potential, outcome, out, means, mean, life, intellectual