Page 12 - GALIET OF BEAUTIFUL UNOIA AND EUDAIMONIA: ARISTOTLE IV
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awareness as proclaimed in their ancient Apollonian dictum “Know Thyself.” In similar fashion, the Tao Te Ching states that those who know themselves are enlightened (Tao Te Ching, 33). We also know of the same form wisdom in Christianity. In Luke 17:20-21, when the Pharisees do demand to know when the kingdom of God should come, Jesus answers, "the kingdom of God does not come with visible signs: Neither shall they say, lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” For Hegel, happiness meant self-awareness, for Marx, it meant the ideal of class equality. Some poets argue that happiness is not real, it is an illusion because just the mere fact of life, implies the frustrations and tragedy of death, our mortality in contrast to our innate desire for immortality.
To understand Aristotle’s position, however, and generally, in shaping his definition of happiness, we can say that Aristotle’s theory of happiness is not only related to his theory of causation but also to the ultimate good and the goods of fortune. Firstly, why should we aspire to moral virtue or nobility? What are the causes of acting in a certain way? Why do we do something with intentionality? Why do we do things that involve a deliberative choice between alternatives? How do we know
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