The Human Good

"Aristotle with a bust of Homer" by Rembrandt 

There is no other individual who has had such a profound and lasting impact on my academic development as Aristotle. I chose to center my philosophy major electives on this great thinker of ancient times because of his insight and perception into the nature of human beings. A biologist by discipline, he based his philosophy on generally observed principles, then logically derived a specific conclusion, a process known as deductive reasoning. Though Plato's philosophy reigned supreme for most of the history of the early Catholic Church, St. Thomas Aquinas was responsible for reviving interest in Aristotle's writings.

In my opinion, the most timeless work of Aristotle is his Nicomachean Ethics. I've read this work countless times and each time, I seem to learn something new. But of all the works' contents, the proof and definition of the human good stands alone in depth of insight.

At the beginning of the work, Aristotle claims that our desires all aim to achieve some particular good (for if the didn't, we would have no motivation to obtain goods; desires motivate us to "goods", loosely defined). And as there are a hierarchy of desires, there is a hierarchy of goods, necessarily leaving one good for the sake of which we do everything in life. So there's one thing that everybody wants the most and Aristotle calls this thing eudaimonia. Though eudaimonia was a topic of much debate in the ancient world, Aristotle defines it as "a flourishing, completeness" of a human life. The word "happiness" has often been used as a shortcut to describe eudaimonia, but a modern understanding of "happiness" should be avoided.

So what exactly constitutes eudaimonia (herein referred to as "happiness", for simplicity's sake)? As mentioned above, one could say that is the chief good. Rather, it is the chief good of man (it would be ridiculous to claim the the chief good was the same for every thing). So what is the chief good of man? Aristotle suggests that it lies in determining the function of man: what man is for. For example, we say that for a painter, his function is to paint, and considered as a painter, painting is thought to be his good. Thus, if man is to have a chief good, man must have a function.

To discover what man's function is, Aristotle considers what is unique to man. Each tool in a tool chest is uniquely shaped and formed to perform a certain function (pounding, screwing, prying, etc.), and after careful inspection of the shape of each tool and by noticing unique features, we can determine what each tool is supposed do. Similarly, an investigation into the unique features of man will reveal what his function is. Living/growing/nourishment/reproduction are features of man, but they are also shared with plants, therefore, not unique to man. Locomotion/sensation/perception are features of man, but they are also shared with animals, therefore, also not unique to man.

So what is left is man's simultaneous obedience and possession of reason and the exercising of rational thought. This, Aristotle collectively refers to as rational activity, and it is the human function. And the chief good of man lies in the performance of that function, rational activity.

Furthermore, because we're talking in terms of goods and hierarchy of goods, it's important to take note of degrees of good. If rational activity is man's function, and if man's function points to what the chief good of man might be, then the chief good of man must be the best performance of his function. Returning to the example of the painter, we would say that a painter is a "good painter" if he performs the activity of painting well. And we would say that he is an "excellent painter" if he performed the activity of painting to the highest degree of proficiency ("excellent" referring to a "goodness in the highest degree"). Similarly, we would say a man is a good man if he performs his function, rational activity, well. Speaking further, we would say that a man is an excellent man if he performs rational activity excellently. And the excellent performance of rational activity, Aristotle calls virtue.

Therefore, the chief good of man is the practice of virtue, excellent rational activity.