September 4, 2012

What is "Good"?

Aristotle focuses on goodness. That goodness cannot be achieved by wealth or by honor. That  Yet throughout his article, he goes back and forth trying to decide what goodness is. Is it maybe that there in no true defintion of goodness? "But the good we are seeking is a good within human reach." (pg.25) Does goodness come from what we want it to be? Or does it come from what society expects it to be? Aristotle talks about how he believes Good can take down Politics at any moment, which is why they shouldn't be together. Aristotle also dabbles with the idea of "Idea". That goodness is all just an idea that society can follow. "Is there nothing else good in itself except the idea?" (pg.23)

Is that all goodness is considered to be? An idea? If so, why do we have such an idea, and why do we, as a society, strive try achieve it? Which good are we supposed to aim for? The Supreme Good? Are the Life of Enjoyment, the Life of Politics, and the Life of Contemplation tools for the Supreme Good? Aristotle weaves this web of confusion, so that we as the reader get mixed up with what we believe goodness is; that we believe in the end that maybe its what society wants it to be.
-Laura-Maria Chami

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