1. Aristotle’s question: What is the best sort of life for man to lead?

1.1. Our aim: To understand human life and human existence, including the fact that man is a rational being who can think, know, and understand.

1.2. What we want to get at is some understandings:

1.2.1.How a being of such nature may be expected to act and behave.

1.2.2.What a being will do and how he/her will live.

　

2. Basic Aristotelian Distinction: Ends (Goals) and Means:

2.1. End (Goal): That at which one aims, shoots for, etc.

2.2. Means: That which one uses to achieve the end/goal.

　

3. Teleological Ethics:

3.1. ‘Teleology’ refers to end or goal-directness.

3.1.1. A teleological theory is one that emphasizes

purposive and goal directed activity.

3.2. Common feature of teleological ethical theories: Concerned primarily with ends or the good rather than with moral obligation, duty, etc.

3.2.1. Considerations of moral value have priority over consideration of moral obligation and duty.

3.2.2. Concepts of obligation, such as duty, ought, or right, are definable in terms of concepts of value (e.g., good).

　

4. Aristotle’s Teleological View:

Aristotle tells us that there is a natural goal or telos of human life, toward which we all oriented and which we all desire and aim at.

4.1. Aristotle’s ethical inquiry:

4.1.1. Trying to explore such proper telos or final ends of human behavior, i.e., to determine what is the proper goal of human life.

4.1.2.Directed toward finding the ways and means for us to attain our natural end or for us to attain the good life, or the full and perfect life for ourselves as human being.

　

5. The Goal for a Good Life:

5.1. Well-being, Eudaimonia and Happiness

5.1.1. Eu—good, daimonia—spirit;

5.2. All man seeks happiness. They all agree to call the chief good eudaimonia, but do not agree what it is.

5.3. Aristotle’s objections:

5.3.1.Need/Want Distinction:

Need and wants both indicate desires, but not desires of the same kind.

5.3.1.1.Natural needs and artificial wants;

5.3.1.2. Temporary wants and long run needs.

5.3.2. Subjective feeling and objective activity.

5.3.3. Happiness is the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue.

5.3.3.1. Happiness is the state of actualizing or realizing a person’s function.

5.3.3.2. A happy life is one that provides all the necessary conditions and opportunities for a person to become fully him or herself.

5.3.3.3. Happiness requires possessions, but is not itself a possession.