(a) "The good is that at which all things aim." Some goods are relative, since they are also means to other ends. (e.g., the end of making money is an end to securing external goods such as shelter and food, and external goods are means to health and vitality). Aristotle thinks there is one good that is sought for not for the sake of anything else: the summum bonum (greatest good). The greatest good is eudaimonia (living well, doing well, flourishing).

(b) To understand what eudaimonia is we must understand what the human person is, i.e., what the nature or essence of the human person is. The human person is a rational (and social) animal. Logos (reason, plan, or rule) is the characteristic human function, a function that reveals the human form or essence.

(c) By virtue of being rational animals we naturally live by a plan or rule. But just as the good life is an activity of reason in accordance with excellence, eudaimonia depends on having the right rule or plan.

(a) The right rule or plan is the one that leads to our possessing what is really good for us, what is needed to live well.

(b) Real goods are NEEDS deriving from our natural desires; whereas apparent goods are WANTS deriving from acquired desires.

(c) The good life (eudaimonia) involves three real goods, each of which corresponds to an aspect of our nature.

• External goods, which are grounded in our animal nature (e.g., food, shelter).
• Bodily goods, which are grounded in our animal nature (e.g., health, vitality).
• Goods of the soul (mind, reason), which are grounded in our rational and social nature (e.g., knowledge and friendship).

External goods are a means to bodily goods, and both these goods are required for goods of the soul. Without food we become physically ill. A sick or dying person is not interested in studying physics or going out with friends. Also, goods of the soul are unlimited real goods (of which we can never have enough), whereas the other goods are limited (since we can sometimes have too much of them).

(a) Right actions are those actions that lead to the acquisition and sustenance of real goods (and thus move us toward eudaimonia); wrong actions are actions that lead away from real goods (and thus move us away from eudaimonia).

(b) Good habits are dispositions to act rightly. They are necessary to ensure that we obtain and possess all real goods, and thus live well. We sometimes want more than we need. We sometimes want things that are only apparent goods for us and that conflict with what is really good for us. We sometimes think that all real goods are equally important. Therefore, we sometimes fail to make the right choices. Sometimes we make many wrong choices. There is, therefore, a need to have a means to securing the likelihood of right choices over wrong choices. Good habits play that role according to Aristotle. "Temperance" and "courage" are two examples of good habits or moral virtues.

 

• A person who lacks temperance in regard to food will either deprive herself of food or eat too much, with a similar result: physical illness or poor health. In each case, the actions are unreasonable since they work against the appropriation of a real human good (the good of physical health). They would also work against goods of the soul, since those in poor health are not as able to excel in studies (and thus grow in knowledge).

   

 

• A person who lacks courage will either be rash or a coward. These defective characteristics lead to wrong choices. A rash person may endanger the life of others or himself. A coward may fail also fail to secure real goods. He may avoid situations that will help him achieve, e.g., goods of knowledge or friendship. He may even jeopardize his physical well being by not taking necessary risks in certain circumstances.

   

Moral virtue is also closely related to intellectual virtues (i.e., the right way of thinking), especially the virtue of practical wisdom, which Aristotle defines as knowing what is right for a person in general (given the kind of being a human person is) and what is right for a particular person (given his or her particular situation and circumstances). Practical wisdom involves the application of a general rule.

(c) Hence, good habits are necessary so that we desire those things that should (i.e., which are needful) and also that we in fact obtain what we should desire. Good habits also are necessary so that we do not desire what we should not obtain (i.e., those things that move us away from real goods).