In order to make someone else happy, you must be happy with yourself. Life’s choices, treatment of others should be made with the best of intentions and cause no harm to others. Scalet and Arthur (2014) have suggested the quality of life is determined by activities and that a happy person will never do what is hateful and mean but will live life with dignity and always do what is best. Kant’s theory suggests that actions determine morality and one must not only act in accordance to duty but for the sake of
“What is the highest of all goods? It is happiness.” The great Greek philosopher Aristotle developed the normative ethical theory of Virtue Ethics and here argues that happiness is the highest good and what we should all strive to achieve. This theory focuses on the kind of person we should become rather than the actions we should do or avoid and is therefore aretaic. Aretai’ from the Greek essentially means virtue, and this is the heart of Virtue Ethics; that people should concentrate on practicing excellence and being virtuous in order to reach happiness, which is the highest goodness according to Aristotle. Morality is not simply about avoiding the wrong, but is also about doing what is virtuous.
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) then decided to develop his idea of Utilitarianism from this quote and apply it to all areas of social activity. Bentham was a hedonist believing that pleasure was the chief ‘good’ and that all aspects of life should maximize pleasure and minimize pain and those that did were the most moral acts. He created the principle of utility which established whether an action was good or bad according to the benefits to the majority amount of people. This is sometimes described as ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’ of people making Bentham’s theory quantitative. Bentham said ‘the principle of utility aims to promote happiness which is the supreme ethical value.’ In determining how to measure different amounts of pleasure and deciding on the right and good thing to do Bentham came up with the Hedonistic Calculus.
Outline the important features of utilitarianism Utilitarianism is an idea that has been around for hundreds of years; it is an ethical philosophy in which the happiness of the greatest number of people in the society is considered the greatest good. Utilitarianism become well acknowledged when it the idea was developed by Jeremy Bentham. Bentham realized that people were motivated by happiness when making a moral decision. They’d ask themselves how they would benefit from that decision and decide from there. Bentham founded the principle of utility, which states that an action is right if it “produces the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people.” Bentham believed good is the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain, and that the greatest good is the greatest pleasure that creates the less pain overall for the majority.
Aristole supported that justice is the high road to democracy. In addition, the second way is to seek the happiness for their citizens. Because democracy is based on good will and mutual understanding. The relation between democracy and happiness was based on mutual dependence. Aristotle thought that is the purpose of the whole life and happiness belongs to the human's mind.
Nichomachean Ethics is a series of chapters, books, put together by Aristotle’s son, Nichomachean. In his Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle is quoted: “Happiness is a certain sort of activity of the soul accord with complete excellence.” In other words, happiness is not a state of being, rather than an activity that one’s soul does. The only way for someone to reach true happiness is to reach “complete excellence”. One can reach complete excellence, by being a virtuous character and achieving the ultimate and self-sufficient goal of happiness, “eudaimonia. In order for a person to reach “complete excellence”, one must have a clear understanding of what “eudaimonia” is and know what to do to
Obtaining Eudaemonia Through Arete: Aristotle’s Account on the Virtue of Character In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle determines that happiness is the ultimate human good. Defined as excellence in rational activity, happiness is “a certain sort of activity of the soul in accord with complete virtue” (1102a5). Because he asserts that virtues control happiness, Aristotle provides a thorough account of virtue in order to understand how one must secure happiness. While virtues of thought are important, virtues of character are of significant value for they are the states of human beings that ultimately allow for the attainment of happiness. In his presentation of virtue of character, Aristotle illustrates how they’re acquired, what they consist in and considers whether they are voluntary.
Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” He describes success as a way of life and not something that you bump into one day down the road. In order to define success in relation to this statement, we must first define what it means to live successfully. There are three levels of success: societal success, personal success, and academic or Burlew 2 professional success. If all of these three levels of success are obtained, then that individual has certainly lived well.
(Utilitarian Philosophy, 2010). The largest or biggest happiness that every human being is in search for can be described as utilitarian happiness. In addition, with respect to the concept of utilitarianism, everything useful or relevant to happiness is good (Utilitarian Philosophy, 2010). Utilitarianism is based on the principle of utility. “Utility is found in everything which contributes to the happiness of every rational being” (Utilitarian Philosophy, 2010).
All actions are related to an underlying principle. Kantian thought supports the idea that the actions are justified by a set of rules outlined in Kantianism. Utilitarianism is based on the idea of a greater good. Positive and negative consequences are quantified and the most positive consequence for the greatest amount of people is chosen, sometimes at the expense of others. For utilitarian school of thought, an individual strives to do the most good, even at the expense of the minority.