The Philosophic Life
The Philosophic Life
In book 10 of the Ethics Aristotle argues that the moral-political life is in fact not an end in itself but is for the sake of meeting needs beyond that life, and that only the philosophic life meets the full criteria of happiness. He here presents the philosophic life in glowing terms, painting it as utterly un-needy and leisured, calling it divine, and calling on its devotees “as far as possible to immortalize ourselves.” This picture of philosophy serves less as an accurate account of Aristotle’s own activity than as a pole star, meant to inspire the moral life with a reverence it needs and that Aristotle’s most sober account of virtue has hitherto not provided.
Keywords: philosophic life, pleasure, happiness
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