Though Aristotle does not explicitly speak of meaning, he surely considered the reality of impartial values and meaning. While his primary concern was on the happiness gained by accounting for these values, he does not say that the happy life means the meaningful. However, we can infer that he thought that the good life and the meaningful life are equals. Therefore, Aristotle’s plan in order to live a good life is understandable, and is a guide to a meaningful life. Aristotle’s beliefs on living a good life start with careful deliberation of the ends and the means.
Suppose I want a laptop–the laptop is my goal, purpose, or end. I can do various things to get the laptop–such as earn, steal, borrow, or save. These things are known as my means. The means I decide to use depends on which is more convenient and which leads to the most benefits. Contemplating about the end goal that we are pursuing, and the means we use to reach that goal is practical thinking. However, this type of thinking does not come to fruition, until purposeful action occurs; which is acting with some purpose, goal, or end in mind.
This purposeful action is compared differently with thoughtless action, which is an action with no purpose or end goal in mind. However, what if I do get my laptop? Retrieving a laptop is itself a means to another goal or end, just like getting to type essays or accessing various school apps are means to other ends. Because of this continuous path, Aristotle pondered whether there is any ultimate end, where that end is not defined as just another mean for another end. Quite explicitly, he wanted to know if there is a final purpose, goal, or end for human life.
Aristotle contended that as we grow and mature, we act more purposefully and less thoughtfully. We try to come up with a suitable plan in order to live this virtuous life, however, it may end up failing, or even worse, we would not be able to feel fully satisfied if we only fulfill our purpose halfway. Aristotle suggested that in order for this good life, this “virtuous” life to result in the best possible outcome, we need a correct plan to steer us in the right path to fulfilling a good and purposeful life–the end/ultimate goal.
However, what is that right plan for our ultimate end, and how can we achieve it? By this, Aristotle defines the ultimate end for life as to have a good life, even more so, to live well, and to flourish. All actions–and purposeful ones at that–should aim for that end. Of course, we must live off of basic needs first such as shelter, food, and clothing. However, living itself is the means to the final end of living a good life. Aristotle expounds further by saying that having a virtuous life is the ultimate end for us; and not a means to any other thing.
In order to live a “virtuous” life, Aristotle states that that life consists the accumulation of all of the things that have provided for us or are good for us. What this is corresponds to the basic needs that are the same for all individuals. For Aristotle, the following are the real goods that a person should pursue to obtain: 1) internal goods – pleasure, vigor, health, and vitality; 2) external goods – shelter, food, clothing, sleep; and 3) goods of self-fulfilment (the soul) – self-esteem, aesthetic enjoyment, knowledge, relationships, skill, and integrity.
Aristotle also mentioned that in order to connect the gap between the understanding of the virtuous life and living it in actuality was through the improvement of a good ethical individual. This includes practicing good habits. Aristotle defines these good habits as virtues. There are intellectual virtues which pertain to the mind, and moral virtues based on the regular inclination to choose rightly. Aristotle values moral virtue specifically, because it plays an important part in living a good life.
This is because if we make bad choices, it will not only cause us inconvenience, but the inability to live well. These choices of ours determine our ability to live well, and the development of good habits allows us to freely make decisions that can improve our lives. Aristotle also has a doctrine of virtue as being a “mean” between the extremes of deficiency and excess. For instance, courage is a mean pertaining to the emotion of fear, between having too much fear (excess cowardice) and having too little fear (deficient rashness).
For example, if two people are in a heated argument, then one individual could be aggressive about it (rashness), or the individual could be passive and take the blame, though it is not entirely just (cowardice). Both extremes do have their cons, but also have benefits as well, depending on the circumstance and given to an extent. If the individual is aggressive, this can be interpreted as being assertive, and if that is the case, then the individual is only wanting to be respected about his/her say about the matter.
If the individual is passive, then that means that the individual chooses which situations are not worth their energy, and maybe the argument was based off of something trivial. Regardless, Aristotle believes that people should always practice the virtues, and not to be average in all things. We cannot rationalize “Since I was nice to my friend before, I should be mean to them. ” The mean is not a mean between excess and deficiency; rather, it is simply between two vices.
