The Concept of Ethics and the Pursuit of Happiness

According to Aristotle, the highest good, or the one thing that everything is supposed to lead to is Eudaimonia. Eudaimonia is a Greek word that means happiness or welfare. So, the highest good in Aristotle’s eyes is happiness. Happiness is something that has intrinsic value, meaning it is desired for its own sake. This raises the question, how do we get to this highest good of happiness? Aristotle says the way to the highest good is through virtue. He lists the cardinal virtues, which are courage, prudence, temperance, and justice. Through these cardinal virtues, we can be led to the highest good. Furthermore, there are two other kinds of virtues: moral and intellectual. Intellectual virtues are acquired through teaching and learning.

Moral virtues, on the other hand, are acquired through habit and practice. All in all, virtue comes through knowledge, choice, will to do so, and taking pleasure with the virtue. Finally, Aristotle mentions that virtues are a “happy medium” of sorts. Reaching a specific virtue means not being on either end of the extreme. For example, having too much courage is considered being cocky, a negative virtue, while having too little is considered being a coward, which is also a negative virtue. Overall, finding the happy medium of cardinal virtues, practicing moral virtues, and acquiring intellectual virtues are the ways to get to the final goal of the highest good, or happiness.

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One of the trolley problems we talked about was the lever problem. The example states there is a trolley barreling down the tracks, and you are sitting at a lever. The track forks, and on the current path there is five people, and on the other path there is one. The moral problem is whether or not you pull the lever. If you pull the lever, the one person dies and you save five. If you do not, the five people die and you save one. On the one hand, if you pull it, you are saving five lives instead of one. A lot of people’s moral intuition leans toward this one, because it seems like an easy decision to save more lives. However, on the other side, it gets more complicated. Those whose moral intuitions decide to not pull the lever and let five people die, is because when you pull the lever you are actively killing someone. There is a situation not under your control, as you did not put the trolley on the tracks.

According to Aristotle, the highest good, or the one thing that everything is supposed to lead to is Eudaimonia. Eudaimonia is a Greek word that means happiness or welfare. So, the highest good in Aristotle’s eyes is happiness. Happiness is something that has intrinsic value, meaning it is desired for its own sake. This raises the question, how do we get to this highest good of happiness? Aristotle says the way to the highest good is through virtue. He lists the cardinal virtues, which are courage, prudence, temperance, and justice. Through these cardinal virtues, we can be led to the highest good. Furthermore, there are two other kinds of virtues: moral and intellectual. Intellectual virtues are acquired through teaching and learning.

Moral virtues, on the other hand, are acquired through habit and practice. All in all, virtue comes through knowledge, choice, will to do so, and taking pleasure with the virtue. Finally, Aristotle mentions that virtues are a “happy medium” of sorts. Reaching a specific virtue means not being on either end of the extreme. For example, having too much courage is considered being cocky, a negative virtue, while having too little is considered being a coward, which is also a negative virtue. Overall, finding the happy medium of cardinal virtues, practicing moral virtues, and acquiring intellectual virtues are the ways to get to the final goal of the highest good, or happiness.

One of the trolley problems we talked about was the lever problem. The example states there is a trolley barreling down the tracks, and you are sitting at a lever. The track forks, and on the current path there is five people, and on the other path there is one. The moral problem is whether or not you pull the lever. If you pull the lever, the one person dies and you save five. If you do not, the five people die and you save one. On the one hand, if you pull it, you are saving five lives instead of one. A lot of people’s moral intuition leans toward this one, because it seems like an easy decision to save more lives. However, on the other side, it gets more complicated. Those whose moral intuitions decide to not pull the lever and let five people die, is because when you pull the lever you are actively killing someone. There is a situation not under your control, as you did not put the trolley on the tracks.

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