Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics bk. 1 | What is Happiness? | Philosophy Core Concepts
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- Опубліковано 14 чер 2024
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This is a video in my new Core Concepts series -- designed to provide students and lifelong learners a brief discussion focused on one main concept from a classic philosophical text and thinker.
This Core Concept video focuses on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, book 1, in particular on Aristotle's discussion about the different views human beings have about the nature of happiness.
If you'd like to support my work producing videos like this, become a Patreon supporter! Here's the link to find out more - including the rewards I offer backers: / sadler
You can also make a direct contribution to help fund my ongoing educational projects, by clicking here: www.paypal.me/ReasonIO
If you're interested in philosophy tutorial sessions with me - especially on Aristotle! - click here: reasonio.wordpress.com/tutori...
We also offer affordable, content-packed, on-demand courses on Philosophy in the ReasonIO Academy - reasonio.teachable.com/
This video is one component in a set of online courses covering Aristotle's entire Nicomachean Ethics. These include 94 lecture videos, 45 downloadable handouts and worksheets, 10 quizzes, 39 lesson pages, and other resources. Check it out in the ReasonIO Academy here - reasonio.teachable.com/p/arist...
You are generous! You might not see it, but I am watching your teachings, the ones that you are offering for free, while I am typing this. You are giving me something I value without expecting anything in return.
Thanks! That's very nice to point out. The real one to thank for that, though, is my wife, andi sciacca , who convinced me to start shooting videos (i.e. that anyone would want to watch them)
You saved my life. Thank you.
Another helpful video. Thanks Greg.
I LOVE your videos- I am taking an intro to philosophy course - I have been waiting for 3 semesters to get in to this class. I am 42 and have gone back to school to get my 1st Bachelors Degree. I love school and was so excited to take this philosophy class. WOW was I in for a shock when I got to the lecture. I am an avid reader and do not often have issues with comprehension. My prof is very young and his lectures are reminiscent of a high school freshman giving an oral report....I was heartbroken after my first week of class. I decided the only way I was going to get the enrichment I had hoped for was to find an external source for lecture......then came YOU! I love your lectures, your class videos are not only everything I had hoped for when I registered for my philosophy class they actually far exceed my expectations. THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting these lectures- they have made a bad classroom experience into a joy for me - I just come home and look up your lectures for a real insight into the material.
+havocmegan Well, I'm very glad to read that the lectures have been useful for you. It's tough for freshly minted Ph.Ds to teach effectively, in many cases - and I've been there, when I started out - but no reason you ought to suffer for it!
You might be interested in some of the online classes - not for credit, but solely for learning and personal enrichment - I'm building and soon will be offering online through ReasonIO, starting in May
Wow thanks for responding to me. I'm sure you must be extremely busy. I subscribe to your channel and I enjoy all of your lectures. Going back to school for me in my 40s is sort of like winning the lottery, I never wanted money but I always wanted knowledge. The videos you post are what I had hoped for and envisioned when I decided to go back to school. I'm a sociology major however I hope to pursue graduate studies in cultural anthropology/comparative religion. I will continue to watch your videos because I believe that when we stop learning we start dying. And if I have my way in the context of knowledge I want to live forever. Thank you again for all your hard work it is most appreciated.
Your videos and work are life changing to the people surfing the web. Thank you do much. I really appreciate you.
You're welcome! Very nice to read!
You're very welcome. Glad the video was so helpful!
I love watching your lectures on Philosophy. I am learning so much from your videos that I could not really learn from other videos. Keep teaching
I will! And thanks!
Well, if you watch the video, you'll get Aristotle's answer, which is a pretty good one
Aristotle gives you a set of different features of virtue(s) that are helpful in determining what, with a specific matter, virtue and vice tend to look like -- you'll find those in Nic. Ethics bk. 2 in general, and 3-5 in general -- and discussion of phronesis in book 6
Love this! I'm studying this for class and these videos really help with my understanding. I just wish Aristotle was as direct with his words as Dr. Sadler.
Well, to be fair, Aristotle's pretty good at telling us what he thinks!
Thank you so much, this has been really helpful for my philosophy project!
Thanks Mr. Sadler for the core concept talks short but very interesting and to the point.
You're welcome -- doing some more of these in the near future, some on Aristotle, some on Augustine, and some on W.D. Ross
Really thanks so much for your work Professor!
You’re very welcome
Thank you Sir for your generosity to share with us all, your vast knowledge on the philosophy of Aristotle that relates to happiness, eudaemonia, as the ancient philosopher calls it. You did an excellent job at summarising so effectively Nicomachean Ethics and much more of Aistotle's work
I’m glad you enjoyed the video
This was very helpful, thank you!
You're welcome
I have just started a virtual college course- Philosophy. I have been getting very frustrated reading Nicomeachean Ethics and key points over and over again with little understanding. This has helped me understand it. Thank you! I appreciate this much!
You're very welcome!
In order to live a happy life, we must do the best we can in everything we do and we must be around friends. We need to practice excellence daily. Happiness will come if you do. An exAmple is If you make excellent music you will get joy playing it and you will make your friends listening to it happy aswell. Same thing for a good joke or a good meal or if your good at a sport anything excellent that you did. But if you are crappy things you
Really enjoyed this!
Glad to read it!
Yeah, I've seen some pretty vicious exchanges on YT -- and some on Facebook and Twitter as well, actually even a few on LinkedIn groups, believe it or not.
This topic -- the issue of how one figures out what virtue is, not the online disputes -- is probably something I ought to shoot some videos on, I'm guessing.
Ye, I think it's often the case that, that humility is not obvious in a lot of the arguments & debates I've seen (but then this is YT! :D) Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to it break it down a bit.
This is a really good idea for when it's just a few particulars that you don't get, Thanks! :D
You're welcome -- yes, something other than the 1+ hour videos seemed to be needed
Lol i love how they banned gum after the president stepped on a piece on his first day. That dude should be taking this philosophy course
I have watched quite a few of Dr. Sadlers core concepts and this might be the one I would recommend to others the most, even if they have no interest in studying philosophy. What is happiness? What personal value should I place on Wealth, Honor/Popularity, Pleasure, Health, Virtue and Wisdom? I particularly enjoyed the part about once a virtue becomes second nature it becomes pleasurable. I can relate to Greg's example of generosity being difficult at first from growing up low income. Earlier in my career I was extremely frugal about everything, even generosity, because I looked at each expenditure as one step closer to worrying about paying the bills and putting food on the table. Once I started to donate to charity and help out friends/familly more often later in life I can say I do get pleasure out of the act and I now put personal value in being charitable.
Glad you found it useful!
I'd love to see a vid touching on the problems & limitations of defining the abstract (like virtue). I've still got doubts about the distortions language places on our understanding of reality, but there's no escaping that), but that fuzziness in concepts makes it more open to everyone having an opinion. :D
See this is why I like these, it makes me think. I'll have to get round to getting some of these texts. Thanks! :D
Great Video. Thanks so much!
The Split Seconds You're very welcome!
Great video, helped me on my paper. Thank you Sir!
You're welcome
you are an absolute legend!!
Thanks!
took excellent notes off of a previous video of yours and my ethics teacher commended me on my in depth knowledge of the reading/ chapter! thank you
That's very cool! You're welcome!
If you'd like to contribute a bit to support the work I do, here's my Patreon page - www.patreon.com/sadler
I might just do that! Thank you again for your time , I look forward to more of your videos
To start with, we don't use "definitions" - certainly not very rigid ones - most of the time, and we understand each other reasonably well.
Do different people bring rival understandings of, e.g. moral virtue, into discussions - sure, but that doesn't constitute an "anything goes" situation. Some understandings are more adequate to the matter beings studied, some not so much - and it's possible for a person with an inadequate one to realize that inadequacy - Aristotle himself is a case of this
new Core Concept video
I don't have one on that, though that would be a good idea -- the trick is to find or make the time. . . . .
Thank you!
I've wanted to take courses on philosophy but I am only fourteen, so I can't. I'm so glad I found your channel. :)
Glad you enjoy the videos!
Good lecture, much appreciated.
Thanks!
@@GregoryBSadler because of your lesson I have order arastatos ethics in Ebay. I have only read 3 previous books on philosophy, the Republic, the last days of Socrates and the history of philosophy.
thank you.
Hell Dr. Sadler. Do you have a video about time management for colleges student? If not then do you recommend any videos or channels on UA-cam?
Dr. Sadler likes cigars, I like the guy already!👍👍👍
I'm mostly studying modern philosophy so it's interested to see how notions like 'happiness' can change throughout time. I'm having some trouble understanding the main differences between Aristotelian and Epicurean imaginings of 'happiness' or eudaimonia. I know Epicurean philosophy draws on on Aristotle's works but they are still a bit different. I'm guessing it mostly exists in the difference between Aristotle's 'active' principle and the Epicurean relaxation or need for ataraxia... Any ideas?
I am having a really hard time understanding my philosophy course and this is extremely helpful. Thank you! I wish you could be my professor/tutor!!!
Glad it was helpful for you!
Dr.Sadler I have a question hoping you couldanswer. Since their are many different views on the definition of happiness how would you answer the question ' What is happiness' ?
Very Very Good
Thanks!
Well, you see, that's one of the basic features of virtue ethics -- the view that that "what criteria exactly" is an inadequate way of looking at moral matters. There are no always-correct criteria, grounds, etc. for virtue (or for vice).
Aristotle says, e.g. with respect to anger, good temper involves being angry at the right time, with the right people, for the right reasons, etc. . . There are no absolutely fixed rules for these -- determining that is a matter of phronesis (moral insight)
Hi Dr Sadler, do you personally think Aristotle was right to believe that the final goal or end of all rational action is the achievement of a happy (eudaimonic) life? If yes, how would you substantiate your view?
I do, and I tend not to worry about "substantiating" it -- from an Aristotelian point of view, it's not going to be something you can provide some sort of argument everyone will assent to automatically. There's a variety of ways to "get it", so to speak
Sorry, basically the concept of 'virtue', say, is projected onto an action based on what criteria exactly? Intent/Outcome? What constaints are carried in the term to give it form to exist as a definable entity & how does that relate to personal action. (Not really a question, more a quick summation of my thoughts) as opposed to a projected construct. So when A says it is a virtuous act what grounds does he justify that statements validity?
Is there a dualism then where these concepts have a 'reality' of their own? How does that model link any interplay with physical behaviour (if I'm understanding what's implied)?
I've a nagging thought of how many of these concepts would have arisen for instance if E-prime was the kinda language structure. I just don't quite demarcate the world in those terms personally, so I genuinely have difficulty relating it to defining others actions in internalised terms if that makes sense?
Thank you!!!
You're welcome!
Very helpful! :)
Glad to read it
Thank You!!!
You're welcome
The Aristotle quote makes sense of course, but it sorta points to my quiery, if there's no fixed definition can two people really understand what another means when throwing it in, & if not doesn't that infer that both carry different constructs from a conversation? (especially over time/language/culture). Doesn't that just perpetuate debate? ( a form of Autopoiesis? :D)
Thank you very 🎉
You’re welcome
Can I download the text on the blackboard somewhere?
I would be great to review the content a few days later, I would remember it so match better!
You can't at present -- but I'm going to be developing a series of very inexpensive (probably around $2.99) ebooks which will encompass these Core Concept videos, providing some discussions and additional resources. We're still looking into precisely how we'll do it, but we're hoping to start rolling the first ones out sometime this Fall
Nice ! if i can pay with paypall I will buy one!
tnx and keep up the good work.
Thank you
You're welcome
I really enjoy these, but they also highlight for me the linguistic (& therefore) perception of abstract categorizations as having a nominalised form in reality? I'm thinking of the point about 'virtue' or 'courage' as it's spoken of here. Similar 'forms' are used by philosophers, & especially noticeable in the religious talks, isn't this more a case of projection of a social construct than an abstract reality (bit like labelling the 40 year old who stole when 6 a thief all his days)?
Hi, dr sadler I want to thank you very much for sharing your knowledge, I followed your advice on self directed study in philosophy and now stumbled upon reading first book in nicomachean ethics which as you mentioned is another level and challenging for beginners.
I have some questions I hope you would answer and correct me if I am wrong
The question about Aristotle dividing the good into three classes external, soul and body especially talking about the soul he differentiated between state of mind and activity which means as I conceived that the state of mind is having prior knowledge or knowing what is virtue as a form but people who have that state of mind not necessarily doing good or virtue and activity means doing which seems to me it is like what buddha and krishnamurti had said to do not to be doing.
Regarding to that he said that those who do well will be crowned as they compete in the olympics
quote '' and as in the olympic games it is not the beautiful and the strongest that are crowned but those who compete '' and their life in itself also pleasant and this the best of happiness then after seeing happiness not in a form but in doing happiness he created a formula which is a form in itself which entailed that the soul good not yet completed but it needs external good and he explained that by saying man can be virtuous but not happy, Didn’t he contradict himself?
i hope that i conveyed the message despite my not so well english
Focus on grasping one author well before trying to compare them to very different authors
@@GregoryBSadler thanks for replying i was just trying to understand what he was talking about when he mentioned soul good and why he said that the happiness is achievable
Well. . . the Epicureans really are something quite different. Epicurus is one of the few people not to have been in one or another of the Socratic successions, and that had an effect on his school as well.
The biggest difference would be that for Aristotle happiness includes but is different from pleasure. For Epicurus, it's simply pleasure (and lack of pain) -- everything else for him is valuable insofar as it provides pleasure or takes away pain.
How do i know that i am happy?
Hi Dr. Sadler,
It seems to me that wealth, honor and pleasure should be limited to means rather than ends in themselves.
Is the end goal THE VIRTUOUS LIFE in order to fulfill our human function for being-at-work?
Where does MEANING fit in Aristotle's quest to fulfill human potential?
"Meaning" wasn't something recognized as such until modern times.
academic degrees are the honour that others give one for learning. They have the strength and weakness of honour. ON the other hand, they certify that the person has at least achieved a particular standard, against their own delusions of what is to be known, what can be known, and what they do know. as well as the value of any of each of these. Wealth is only instrumentally good, and only justified by the end it is used for. While I am not worth it, I would want to be honoured by the most skilled fighters, the most sagacious people, IF I had to reduce it to only one, it would have to be the most sagacious people. I want to be...wise.
Mark Trumble With wisdom, I think by the time one is progressing along into it, there's two key things that happen, that take the person's desires out of the workings of honor.
1) While other wise people's views can provide some sort of index, when one is genuinely taking wisdom as the central good and goal, one becomes less concerned about what people -- including the wise -- make of one.
2) As one progresses into wisdom, one also becomes more and more aware of the gaps, weak-points, etc. within one's own understanding -- which poses some challenges -- and so, for that reason, one would seek and desire less to be honored for one's "wisdom" than to deal with such gaps
Hi Dr. Sadler, let me start off that I greatly enjoy your videos. I've also sent them to several people who were unfamiliar with virtue ethics, because you have a great way of explaining things clearly. I was reading this comment and I had a question about 1). You seem to posit wisdom as contemplation and you continue to say that interaction between other wise (virtuous?) people only functions as an index for your own pursuit of wisdom. But from what I've gathered Aristotle seems to view friendship of the virtuous kind as a true and necessary good, does this not also pertain to the views that a virtuous friend holds? I take this to mean that in order to live a happy life, one must engage with virtuous persons necessarily, which means you value the opinion of these people, and in my mind, also the honor they would bestow upon you when they deem your actions just or skillful (given that you believe they possess the accompanying virtuous disposition in relation to the granted honor). So than, wouldn't it be unwise to take their views as a mere index? Since, it reduces the happiness of your relationships with others to accidentally good, rather than necessary. Maybe I jumped to a conclusion here, you might not view wisdom as the best way to a happy life or maybe I missed something, still I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
I don’t know if you are familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. If you are, do you think Aristotle agreed with that? Would he say that in order to be happy you would need the lower needs as well as the higher or would he say that happiness can consist in just having the higher?
ua-cam.com/video/xgf2jztjaF4/v-deo.html
Gregory B. Sadler 😂 ok i’ll read it
Cool vid
Thanks
Well, for an Aristotelian, you could ask: are you engaged in virtuous activity?
ua-cam.com/video/xgf2jztjaF4/v-deo.html
Professor Sadler, do you have philosophy CD's, and do you have any others besides this one ^ for purchase? Thank you .
+guadalupe vallejo I don't have any philosophy CDs, so I'm not sure what you're asking about
+Gregory B. Sadler, Yes, I meant , "The series of very inexpensive e-books" you mentioned to Boris Dinges, in the comments a year ago. If you have , can you kindly give me that information where to purchase them? Thank you.
I haven't created them yet -- too busy with other projects. When I start publishing them, you'll certainly see me advertising them in my various social media (FB, G+ Twitter, UA-cam), so you'll want to follow those accounts.
+Gregory B. Sadler
My two cents as a listener and consumer of many audiobooks and lectures and podcasts. Make sure the sound quality is pro, ya hear me? Like Teaching Company does or an audible book. No students breathing noises or banging and clanking. No empty room cavernous effect.
Sound quality is vitally important, more than people understand, ya dig?
You are a great teacher.
2cents If that's the standard, then I won't be doing podcasts anytime soon. I've not got the space or the equipment to totally fix sound
Dr.Sadler do you think faith could be a contendor in the whole idea of what is happiness.?
Certainly the object of faith (i.e. God), but not simply faith itself. And, not for Aristotle
Thank you for answering my question i wasn't sure if it was or not.
You never narrowed it down for what i was expecting all along, the focal point of happiness is the intrinsic value each person encounters subjectively
Nope. Not for Aristotle. And that's whose thought the video is on
Well do you agree with me, happiness is strictly an intrinsic definition that you have to choose on your own at some point instead of searching the outside world for
Jesse Schaefer No, I don't agree with you on that
Does your happiness rely on one thing?
Jesse Schaefer
I'm fairly Aristotelian, so no. But my own views on happiness are not particularly interesting or important, when there's a number of great thinkers who have really worked over the topic
My ideal is a hermit of wisdom. I have to work to live, and I am married. I love my wife and have a duty to her. BUt my private time is broken up into gym, bush, wife and study. I am very lucky that my wife and I are friends: we enjoy the same things together. But where I study, my wife prays ( she would not like that I have stated this). My end is the bios thereticos. But I feel far from actual: I can imagine being much more wise than I am. Wisdom is both a character habit, and intellectual capacity, but I also imagined that wisdom would have an affective element as well...what does it feel like to be wise?
+Mark Trumble I couldn't say, myself
I agree with Aristotle's meaning on happiness but I would go a bit further in stating that happiness is understanding that some circumstances are products of external locus of control and that if one remains humble in (moderation) with others then he or she will come to term with the meaning of life and thus attain happiness.The key is to lessen responsibility and to let an external entity (GOD) take control of ones life.In another word, keep it simple and you will have time to see the purpose of life.
I'd be a poor Platonist if I agreed that they were merely social constructs projected onto a timeless abstract reality!
If you look at what Aristotle is doing explicitly (Plato implicitly) - particularly in moral matters - he actually thinks that social usage gives some clues, but inadequate ones, about the phenomena he is studying. He thinks that most people tend to get some things wrong about, e.g. courage - and most philosophers as well - and espouses a more flexible way of understanding it
Is it possible a person will die without achiving happiness?
Sure - happens all the time
True happiness , is when you are living by the highest standards you can possibly be living in .
To be happy, you have to be in the best inviroment you can be and heaven is the best place . So we can't be truely happy until we get home back to heaven the Earth is a school of learning created. Y God so we can learn from darkness .
So God expects there to be darkness in our world which means with darkness effecting our daily lives we can't be happy because darkness causes suffering .
Some.people will have wealthy lives and a nice home.with lavish furnishings and lots of money and opportunity but they may struggle with emotions and disfunctions of the soul which hinder there happiness .
She we need to be of sound mind body and soul and in a safe environment that is safe and abundant with good people around us .love is one of the most important things we need for happiness because love will help a to treat those around us with kindness and respect and they us .
The world we live in is not designed to bring have happiness it is poor in many places with lots if hatdship war and suffering .
Heaven is the opporsite to the earth there is nothing but love peace joy and abundance and no suffering or hardship at all so true happiness cannot be obtained untill we return home
That is the view of quite a few later thinkers. It's not that of Aristotle
one little question about this video: did not Aristotle define wisdom as one part of virtue?
Depends on the "wisdom" you're talking about. As sophia, it's an intellectual virtue. As phronesis, it's also an intellectual virtue, but is connected to the moral virtues.
@@GregoryBSadler Sorry, but it would be really nice if you can define the wisdom you were talking about in the video so for me to differentiate from the ones Aristotle was actually referring to. Thanks!
@@andyvalentin9176 Sorry, but it would be really nice if you watched the other videos in the series that discuss those, rather than asking me to do work for you for free on a video I already provided for free. Easy enough for you to Google.
I am so sorry I apologise @@GregoryBSadler
It's quite all right - but you should check out the other Aristotle videos, where you'll find the different kinds of wisdom being discussed. Here's the Aristotle playlist - ua-cam.com/play/PL4gvlOxpKKIiPLaS968IJzLNLNwGmqPb7.html
I have to admit that I'm not entirely understanding what you're asking me here
I'm just going to accept the L on my quiz tmr
Brother you need drink the water. Please. 3 times I seen you open it and not drink. Wonderful lecture.
Glad you enjoyed this lecture from years back
Noise around you disturbed
That;s life sometimes
your explanation is amazing. would this comment bring you happiness, well if you pursue honour as your path of happiness then it might. Thanks, have a good day :)
If I was pursuing honor, a single comment would not bring anything remotely like happiness, I think
I had to write a paper on this. God it is so boring.
Yes, like your comment