Aristotle

Aristotle Ð'- Living a human life/human nature

Aristotle was a man of philosophy, science, and mathematics. He used these three tools to explain what he thought the purpose of being a human being was, and just what being a human being entailed. To describe what a human being was, he came up with many theories, which involved friendship, happiness, and human nature. He also believed that not everyone was a perfect human, meaning, there were things an individual must do throughout his or her life to achieve becoming a Good person and ultimately becoming a happy person. Throughout this paper, I will be explaining what a full human life really is and then critiquing some of Aristotle's beliefs about human nature. I may agree or disagree with some of his points. The fact remains, I will use my own views in many cases to defend my points because to me, that is the point of this paper and the class, to understand a way of thinking, and argue for or against that way through the use of philosophy and intellectual thinking.

So what makes humans unique and any different from an animal according to Aristotle? Our process of rational thought, which allows us to make decisions, whether they be good or bad. A person that makes an effort to be a Good person generally will make decisions that he or she feels is in the best interest of being good. Being a Good person leads to being a virtuous (striving for excellence) person, which eventually will lead to happiness, the ultimate goal for a human being in Aristotle's views. The question is, what constitutes being happy, as a human being. Many will state that having a good sex life is happiness, but because we are not just animals, but rational beings, there is much more to life than just having sex or having a good sensual life.

Every action a human being makes aims for an end, a goal or purpose, otherwise known as "telos". An end may not sound like it seems, because an end in Aristotle's world is not always a finish line or completion, it may just be a doorway or a path to another end in a long series of ends that a person goes through in their life. An individual will work their way through many ends until they ultimately come to true end, which is contemplation or more commonly known as wisdom. Aristotle sees wisdom as the highest form of virtue since it is the truth and is always unchanging and since partaking in wisdom is contemplation, he believes contemplation is in fact the ultimate of being a virtuous person.

Another key aspect of human nature to look at under Aristotle's views is the foundation of friendship. Aristotle believed that happiness was not just a private matter, but rather a public matter, and therefore should be shared with friends. There are three types of friendships; that of utility, pleasure, and good. Pleasurable friends are pretty clear in it's definition; a friend that you feel get pleasure from. Utility friends are friends that possess some usefulness that you can benefit from. These two friendships are not true friendships though in the Aristotelian view however, due to the fact that a person's pleasures and thought of usefulness is ever changing and almost never remains constant. A good or complete friend is someone's friendship you truly value, a person that essentially is another self, or "two people that share the same soul".

Now to argue/agree with Aristotle's points, I will begin with human beings being seen as rational animals. I do agree with Aristotle that because of our rational thought, we are in fact, in a league above any other animal or species on the planet. Human beings don't just strive to eat food, seek shelter, or reproduce, it is obviously much more complex than that. We as a species find greater things in life to appreciate, such as success, ambition, love, honor, pride, and even religion. We feel that we are more special than a typical animal, and that there is a purpose in life, whether it be to become greater than ourselves or just accomplish things throughout our life. This is where virtues come in, and shows us the many different facets in life that we can possibly achieve, and because we are a species that strives to always achieve things, virtues are something that every individual on the planet aims for.

Aristotle said that there is an ultimate end in life, and that is the act of contemplation and the understanding of the known universe. I have to disagree with Aristotle here because I am not a person that believes that there is just simply an end and that is it. While it is definitely good to aim for greatness and achieve ultimate happiness, saying that you got to the end of the road, and that you are finished is not good enough for me. Human beings always encounter new situations or events every single day of their life. Life is too unpredictable to just have an end as Aristotle describes it. We get thrown new ideas, new people, tragedies, and new ways of thinking or perspectives on life nearly every day of our lives. To me, not having an end is what drives human beings to excel. The feeling that there is unlimited potential out there, that an individual can always and forever improve or better themselves is something I think that our species truly lives for. I do agree with Aristotle in the fact that wisdom is