Today's soundtrack is Marcel Tyberg: Symphony No. 3. This morning, I'm reading the seventh chapter of the first book of Aristotle's Ethics. After many digressions, Aristotle again comes back to the question: what is the good? We know that there are different definitions of good in different fields, such as medicine or mathematics or military strategy. But what is the over-arching good that these other definitions of the good have in common? In each field, a proper completion of something is good: medicine bringing health, mathematics finding a solution, a military strategy winning a war, etc. Each of these is what Aristotle calls a "doable good" (p. 36), and the effective means to these ends are good as well. But we are looking for the final good, something that is good in its own right, something that is an end in itself, not merely a means to something else. Happiness we do choose for its own sake, unlike wealth or prestige or power. It is self-sufficient as a motive that directs our actions. What, then, is happiness? To answer this, we must first consider what man's function is. What is his role on the earth? The eye's function is sight; the leg's function is movement; the architect's function is fulfilled in a completed structure - but what is the function of every man? What is the function of mankind as a whole? It cannot be mere growth; beasts and plants do the same. Is it experiences? No, for any animal can experience something. What sets man apart from plants and animals? Two things make us unique: we can rationalize, and we can take actions based on our rationalizations. Aristotle says that "the function of [a good] man is [...] an activity of the soul exercised in combination with a rational principle or reasonable ground of action [... performed] well" (p. 39); therefore, "the good for man is 'an activity of soul in accordance with [...] the best and most complete form of goodness" (p. 39). Aristotle promises to go into more detail later, filing in this outline. He again reminds his reader to only expect the degree of detail expected on a subject; he says that a carpenter's right angle will not be as precise as a geometrist's. To further our study of goodness and happiness, we do not need to find why every fact is so; rather, some facts must simply be established, especially the First Principles, the foundational facts. Happiness is a lifetime achievement; it is not the result of a pleasant day or even week.
