The goal of human life (Nicomachean Ethics, book 1)

Abstract

I have said that the Ethics has the form of a search, and that a search has four distinguishable steps: formulating criteria for what is sought; identifying the field of search; examining that field; applying the criteria. Aristotle takes the first two steps in book 1. He sets down criteria which, he thinks, the ultimate goal of human life must satisfy, and he identifies in a general way his field of search, by arguing, as we have seen, that the ultimate goal of human life involves some “activity in accordance with virtue.” More precisely, he does both of these things in chapter 7, which is the pivotal chapter of the book. After book 1, he then conducts his search, by looking at the various virtues and their characteristic activities. A word about terminology is in order. Aristotle refers to the ultimate goal of human life variously as: “the good”; “the human good”; “the practically attainable good”; “the best thing”; “the highest thing”; and “the ultimate (or ‘last’) good.” Clearly, he regards it as a kind of end point, and whether we imagine this as the end point of a vertical (“highest”), horizontal (“last”), or evaluative (“best”) sequence is irrelevant. He also calls it eudaimonia (you-dye-mone-EE-ah) and says that people would agree in calling it this. “ eudaimonia ” was a popular term, not a technical term in philosophy, which meant literally to be blessed by a spirit or god (see 9.9.1169b7–8), or to be blessed as regards one's own spirit.