The Good cannot is not a universal Idea, as the Platonists claim, because this universal Idea does not encompass the range of things are considered good and had no practical ramifications.Įach actions aims at some end specific to it. The contemplative life will be examined later. Nor is it found in seeking honor because honor depends not on the person but on what others think of him. Happiness is not found in living for pleasure because such a life is slavish.

Some think that happiness is to be found in pleasure, others that it is to be found in honor, and others that it is to be found in contemplation. If a student's ethical habits are not good, he will be hindered from accepting ethical knowledge. There is a dispute as to what constitutes happinesswhether it is pleasure, honor, health, wealth, knowledge or something else. The highest good is happiness, which means living well.

A proper student of ethics must already have substantial life experience and training in virtue otherwise he will not profit from the subject because he is more inclined to listen to his passions than to reason. An inquiry into ethics should not be expected to have the same sort of precision as a mathematical inquiry, because the nature of the subject-matter is different. Ethics is a part of politics, which is the most authoritative and architectonic science. Every human action aims at some good, and the good which is chosen for its own sake rather than as means to an end is the highest good.

Nichomachean ethics book 7