Aristotle’s Philosophy: Politics, Ethics, and Happiness
Aristotle’s Political Philosophy
Aristotle defines human beings as *zoon politikon logikon*, that is, a rational, social, or political animal. He argues that the essence of human nature, and its rationality, lies in its sociability. Society is not against nature but a development of it. By their very nature (*physis*), human beings have an inevitable tendency to live in society. The distinction between natural and social status is impossible in Aristotelian thought; there is no individual without society, which is the natural means of development and perfection: “It is thus evident that the city is by nature prior to the individual, because if the individual may not in itself be sufficient unto himself, should be with every politician in the same ratio as other parties are with their respective everything.”
The original nucleus of the social or political community is the family, the most natural group consisting of women, husband, children, slaves, and farm animals – individuals who ensure their livelihood. Second is the village, which is a set of families. The village arises from the advantages that numbers bring regarding personal safety and the division of labor. Finally, there is the *polis*, or city-state, a Greek social ideal before the conquest of Alexander. The *polis* is an autarchy, a society that is sufficient unto itself.
The aim pursued by life in society is the common good. The association between human beings is not only to live but to perfect both body and soul (according to Aristotle, man is a compound of *hilemorfismo* subject, body and form, the soul). The common good should seek material comfort and welfare, as well as the refinement of the mind – that is, as Socrates and Plato had claimed, knowledge, and especially the practice of virtue. For this reason, the laws, and the whole organization of government, must be based on the virtue of justice. Legality and morality must be two sides of the same social reality.
Aristotle’s Ethics and the Pursuit of Happiness
For Aristotle, happiness is the supreme good of man; it is the realization of what is proper. Therefore, the happiness that belongs to man is that which occurs when he performs the activity that is proper to him, and when it is done perfectly. Since the activity of the soul that is most typically human is the intellect, or rational soul, his happiness consists in the exercise of it. Human happiness lies in the theoretical life of knowledge and contemplation. Thus, the happiest man is the philosopher, and so when he directs his life to knowledge and virtue.
To be virtuous, one must also direct their reason to find the middle ground, or moderation, in their actions, as human beings do not only have an intellectual soul. Finally, from a realistic standpoint, Aristotle also agrees that to be happy requires a moderate amount of external goods and human affection.
In short, Aristotle’s happiness consists in the acquisition of excellence in action (virtue ethics), and in reflection, if a minimum of possessions and affections are not missing. Aristotle maintains a *eudaimonistic* ethic, that is, for the realization of happiness. Both Plato and Aristotle found such virtue, excellence, such human perfection in the contemplative life. Only the dedication to the intellectual life could seek the *arete*, to be virtuous. For Plato and Aristotle, it was right to apply reason to life, that is, to find the golden mean between two vices in each situation and depending on the circumstances. However, Aristotle, being more realistic, does not see justice as the end of the State, but stability; justice will rather be the virtue of the ruler. For Aristotle, the exercise of virtue is also the exercise of reason, but not everyone can do it in practice or alike, which shows that not everyone will be happy.