Essay Database

Aristotle views the good life as a life in which the individual behaves virtuously, and he regards such a life as a prerequisite for human happiness. By "happiness", however, Aristotle makes it apparent that he is not thinking in terms of self-indulgence or a selfish pursuit of pleasure but, instead, of the living of that type of life which is most in accord with the human person's rational faculties. Aristotle follows the Hellenic tradition in …

…are totally without the type of ties that would have bound community members together in the Greek polis. This does not mean, of course, that there is no connection between government and human well-being, but there can no longer be the type of sense of solidarity between community members that would lead to the direct and inevitable association of the good state with the good life as outlined by Aristotle in the passage quoted above.