Page 14 - GALIET OF BEAUTIFUL UNOIA AND EUDAIMONIA: ARISTOTLE IV

In addition, the happy being, according to Aristotle, is he or she who really wants nothing for the happy life leaves nothing to be desired or wished for. It is this insight which Boethius later expresses as “a life made perfect by the possession in aggregate of all good things.”6 Happiness is not a particular good itself, but the sum of goods or the summun bonum: el sumo bien. “If happiness were to be counted as one good among others,” Aristotle argues, “it would clearly be made more desirable by the addition of even the least of goods.” But then there would be something left for the happy man to desire, and happiness would not be “something final and self-sufficient and the end of action.” Therefore, for Aristotle, all human activity aims at some final goal, some final purpose or some final end that is ultimately “happiness” or “Eudaimonia:” living, doing or faring well.
This flourishing life can only result from doing what’s good because happiness is doing the good and the idea of good, for Aristotle, is simply good in itself. For him, then, if we are to attain an euidaimonic form of life, if we are to flourish, it must be from the outcome of rational thought. Therefore,
6 Quote on Beathius given by my mentor and friend, Dr. Miguel Angel Monge.
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