Rejecting some goals that people often take to be the aim of a good human life – such as pleasure, health or wealth – Aristotle asserts that the true telos of human behavior is the eudaimonia of living well. For instance, Aristotle lays out his ethical philosophy as an example of 'teleological' thinking, where human actions aim at the 'final' and 'self-sufficient' goal (or telos) of a good life. Within these broad claims about human excellence and the qualities of a good life, Aristotle defines methods and terms that continue to influence many aspects of contemporary ethical thinking. As the Nicomachean Ethics shows over the course of its ten books, eudaimonia entails acting virtuously, almost always among others – within a family, among friends and as part of a civil society. (Wikimedia Commons)Īs one of the central texts of moral philosophy in the Western tradition, the Nicomachean Ethics introduces terminology and methods for grappling with one of the most fundamental philosophical questions: what does it mean to live a good life? Or to use Aristotle's terminology, how might one achieve eudaimonia, a term understood as some combination of 'happiness,' 'blessedness' and simply 'faring well?' Simultaneously a study of individual excellence and one of political life, Aristotle's text does not understand 'living well' as a kind of pleasant feeling or other positive psychological state. Olympic competitions were opportunities for displays of excellence.

Nichomachean ethics book