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In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, he discusses the three common 'ways of life' that most people live. What are these lives? Why does Aristotle reject them as the best way to live?

In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, he discusses the three common 'ways of life' that most people live. What are these lives? Why does Aristotle reject them as the best way to live?

Social Psychology (10th Edition)
Social Psychology (10th Edition)
10th Edition
ISBN:9780134641287
Author:Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Robin M. Akert, Samuel R. Sommers
Publisher:Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Robin M. Akert, Samuel R. Sommers
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 In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, he discusses the three common 'ways of life' that most people live. What are these lives? Why does Aristotle reject them as the best way to live? 

Aristotle on the 'Three Types of Lives' From Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Three Lives Compared In Book I Aristotle says that three kinds of lives are thought to be especially attractive: one is devoted to pleasure, a second to politics, and a third to knowledge and understanding (1095b17–19). In Book X.6-9 he returns to these three alternatives, and explores them more fully than he had in Book I. The life of pleasure is construed in Book I as a life devoted to physical pleasure, and is quickly dismissed because of its vulgarity (it is more fit for animals who live "a life of grazing"). In Book X.6, Aristotle concedes that physical pleasures, and more generally, amusements of all sorts, are desirable in themselves, and therefore have some claim to be our ultimate end. But his discussion of happiness in Book X does not start from scratch; he builds on his thesis that pleasure cannot be our ultimate target, because what counts as pleasant must be judged by some standard other than pleasure itself, namely the judgment of the virtuous person. Amusements will not be absent from a happy life, since everyone needs relaxation and pleasure fills this need. But pleasure and amusement play a subordinate role, because we seek relaxation in order to return to more important activities. Aristotle turns therefore, in Book X.7-8, to the two remaining alternatives-politics and a life devoted to knowledge or philosophy-and presents a series of arguments to show that the philosophical life, a life devoted to theoria (contemplation, study), is best. Aristotle is not talking here about a process of learning that leads to understanding, because such knowledge is always undertaken for the sake of a further goal. Instead, what Aristotle has in mind when he talks about theoria is the activity of someone who has already achieved theoretical wisdom. The happiest life is lived by someone who is knowledgeable and philosophical, and who has the resources needed for living a life devoted to the exercise of that understanding. [...] He compares it to the life of a god: god thinks without interruption and endlessly, and a philosopher enjoys something similar for a limited period of time. It may seem odd that after devoting so much attention to the practical virtues, Aristotle should conclude his treatise with the thesis that the best activity of the best life is not ethical, but instead intellectual. But it is difficult to believe that he intends to reverse himself so abruptly, and there are many indications that he intends the arguments of Book X.7-8 to be continuous with the themes he emphasizes throughout the rest of the Ethics. The best way to understand him is to take him to be assuming that one will need the ethical virtues in order to achieve and live an intellectual life. To arrive at and be adequately equipped to live a life of thought and discussion, one will need practical wisdom, moderation, justice, and the other ethical virtues. Although Aristotle's principal goal in Book X.7-8 is to show the superiority of 'the life pursuing knowledge' to politics, he does not deny that a political life is a happy one. Perfect happiness, he says, consists in contemplation; but he indicates that the life devoted to practical thought and
Transcribed Image Text:Aristotle on the 'Three Types of Lives' From Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Three Lives Compared In Book I Aristotle says that three kinds of lives are thought to be especially attractive: one is devoted to pleasure, a second to politics, and a third to knowledge and understanding (1095b17–19). In Book X.6-9 he returns to these three alternatives, and explores them more fully than he had in Book I. The life of pleasure is construed in Book I as a life devoted to physical pleasure, and is quickly dismissed because of its vulgarity (it is more fit for animals who live "a life of grazing"). In Book X.6, Aristotle concedes that physical pleasures, and more generally, amusements of all sorts, are desirable in themselves, and therefore have some claim to be our ultimate end. But his discussion of happiness in Book X does not start from scratch; he builds on his thesis that pleasure cannot be our ultimate target, because what counts as pleasant must be judged by some standard other than pleasure itself, namely the judgment of the virtuous person. Amusements will not be absent from a happy life, since everyone needs relaxation and pleasure fills this need. But pleasure and amusement play a subordinate role, because we seek relaxation in order to return to more important activities. Aristotle turns therefore, in Book X.7-8, to the two remaining alternatives-politics and a life devoted to knowledge or philosophy-and presents a series of arguments to show that the philosophical life, a life devoted to theoria (contemplation, study), is best. Aristotle is not talking here about a process of learning that leads to understanding, because such knowledge is always undertaken for the sake of a further goal. Instead, what Aristotle has in mind when he talks about theoria is the activity of someone who has already achieved theoretical wisdom. The happiest life is lived by someone who is knowledgeable and philosophical, and who has the resources needed for living a life devoted to the exercise of that understanding. [...] He compares it to the life of a god: god thinks without interruption and endlessly, and a philosopher enjoys something similar for a limited period of time. It may seem odd that after devoting so much attention to the practical virtues, Aristotle should conclude his treatise with the thesis that the best activity of the best life is not ethical, but instead intellectual. But it is difficult to believe that he intends to reverse himself so abruptly, and there are many indications that he intends the arguments of Book X.7-8 to be continuous with the themes he emphasizes throughout the rest of the Ethics. The best way to understand him is to take him to be assuming that one will need the ethical virtues in order to achieve and live an intellectual life. To arrive at and be adequately equipped to live a life of thought and discussion, one will need practical wisdom, moderation, justice, and the other ethical virtues. Although Aristotle's principal goal in Book X.7-8 is to show the superiority of 'the life pursuing knowledge' to politics, he does not deny that a political life is a happy one. Perfect happiness, he says, consists in contemplation; but he indicates that the life devoted to practical thought and
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