How Aristotle explained the meaning of life
Aristotle is one of the biggest philosophers of all time. He was a great thinker whose mind was occupied by some of the hardest life questions one may ask himself. One of the questions Aristotle asked himself was about the meaning of life. Aristotle believed that every being has a purpose. When we fulfill our purpose, we flourish. According to Aristotle, human purpose is pure happiness. In this blog post, I share how he came to this conclusion and how to become happy according to his philosophy.
A bit of background about Aristotle
Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in ancient Greece and was tutored by Plato in philosophy. Soon after, he realized that he needed to go in his own direction, as he perceived the world entirely different from his teacher. In the upcoming years, he focused on a wide range of topics, such as politics, physics, theatre, and linguistics, to name a few. However, he is most known for his perspective on logic. Aristotle formed propositions such as “if A is B and C is A, then C is B.” For example, if all dogs are mammals, and Marley is a dog, then Marley must be a mammal.
This form of reasoning is also known as deductive reasoning, as you draw specific conclusions starting from a general truth. You could see that Aristotle tried to make sense of the world by using logical reasoning. This is because he believed that our rationality not only characterizes us but also helps us find and fulfill our purpose.
What Aristotle believed about the capabilities of living beings
Aristotle believed all living beings could be categorized into three types: Plants, animals, and human beings. He drew this conclusion based on the proposition that every group of subjects has characteristic abilities. Humans have the largest amount of abilities. We are able to grow and reproduce, move and have sensations, and use our brains for reasoning. Animals have fewer abilities. They only are able to grow, reproduce, move, and feel. According to Aristotle, an animal that is not able to move, is not as happy as an animal that is able to move. In the Netherlands, farmers publish a video of their cows being released into the fields every spring. You could literally see them twirling and jumping out of happiness. This is also known as the cow dance. Plants have the least abilities. They only are able to grow and reproduce, according to Aristotle.
A living being that is not able to experience its full potential is seen as a subject performing poorly or as a ‘bad’ subject. Aristotle believed that each living being wants and needs to live by its ability to fulfill its purpose and find happiness.
How Aristotle explained the meaning of life
According to Aristotle, every being works towards a purpose, and our human purpose is to find happiness, or Eudaimonia. That is why we behave in the way we do. A life without happiness we don’t perceive as a good life. Everything else serves as a means to this end.
Ask a person, for example, why he wants to quit his job. He would most likely either say something like ‘I wasn’t happy there anymore’ or ‘I got a better offer.’ The first one is obvious. It is clear that the person wants to change his life to feel happier. But even the reason that he got a better offer implies that he is expecting or at least hoping to find more happiness through that other job.
An important to discuss here is what it means to be happy since Aristotle has a less conventional perspective on what happiness is. In the previous example, I used the word ‘happy’ to describe how someone who quits his job would most likely elaborate on his decision. However, Aristotle believed that happiness cannot be experienced in brief moments. Short positive experiences, we could therefore better call joy or pleasure. More specifically, Aristotle strongly believed that a person cannot find out he is happy until the end of his life. This is because only then can a person look back on his life and see whether he lived a happy life altogether.
Happiness, according to Aristotle, can be obtained by intellectual contemplation, which means thinking deeply about something. The reason that Aristotle believes contemplation leads to happiness, is because it is our highest characteristic ability and leads to wisdom and success.
Next, a happy life requires health, prosperity, respect, luck, friendship, engagement, and virtue. Let’s talk a bit more about virtues. What is a virtuous life?
Aristotle’s definition of a virtuous life
Virtues are “behavior or attitudes that show high moral standards”. A virtuous life is a life lived through making virtuous or ‘right’ decisions. Aristotle distinguished 11 moral virtues, although some sources state that there were 12. These virtues are the traits most admired in people in general and tell us the best way to behave towards one another if we want to fulfill our purpose. The 11 virtues were as follows: Courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, magnanimity, proper ambition/pride, patience/good temper, truthfulness, wittiness, friendliness, modesty, and righteous indignation.
Aristotle placed these virtues on a spectrum. Imagine here a horizontal line on which virtuous decisions were placed in the middle. Because of the position of virtuous behavior, Aristotle called virtues also ‘the golden mean.’ Each virtue has its own line. On both ends of this line, you will find the extremes of the related virtue, also known as the vices. On the left side, there is a so-called deficiency, which is a shortage of that virtue. On the right side, there is a so-called excess, which is an overload of the related virtue. If the golden mean is courage, then the deficiency is cowardice and the excess is rashness.
If you like to learn more about the vices, then I recommend this article.
How to find the golden mean
According to Aristotle, all the situations we are in require a decision on how we respond to these situations. He believed that we should always make decisions based on the golden mean if we want to live a good life and fulfill our purpose.
However, the golden mean differs per situation. Not all situations have the same golden mean. For example, in the case of a robbery, it truly depends on the situation whether it is better to scream for help or just to give the robber your wallet. Also, it depends on the person. As a defenseless old lady, it might be wiser to give the robber your wallet, while a young man with years of experience in Taekwondo might act more confrontational.
Because every person and every situation requires a different response, it is crucial to analyze the situation and to know our own limitations before we act.
“It’s easy to be angry, but to be angry at the right time, for the right reason, at the right person, and in the right intensity must truly be brilliant.”
– Aristotle
Aristotle said that we can learn more about how to live a virtuous life by watching others, but that we also need to practice moral behavior. He thought that if people practice virtuous behavior long enough, they will turn into virtuous people themselves. After all, as he states:
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
– Aristotle
So, when we face a challenging situation, we first need to use our practical wisdom to understand the situation we are in. Next, we determine our golden mean and then respond as virtuously as possible. What that is, depends on our own personality and qualities and on the situation.
Finding happiness
As I mentioned before, Aristotle believed that our human purpose is to find happiness. We can do this by using our rational minds when determining the best way to act in different situations. By behaving virtuously, we practice and become good, virtuous people ourselves. Nonetheless, true happiness will only be achieved by those amongst us who also experience health, prosperity, respect, luck, friendship, and engagement and who take the time to contemplate, thus taking time to think deeply about life.
What do you think about Aristotle’s philosophy? Do you agree with him? What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? Now, imagine he was still alive, and you would be having a conversation with him. You would tell him what you disagree with. How would you think he would respond? How do you think he would explain himself better?
How relevant is Aristotle’s ancient philosophy today?
When I started writing this post, I came across a lot of criticism towards his philosophy. Many disagree with the way Aristotle explained the meaning of human life because they feel like happiness as the sole goal is only for those who are most ego-centric. They didn’t understand how that mindset could lead to a morally good life. Also, for Aristotle not to clarify where these 11 virtues came from meant that his philosophy wasn’t completely solid.
Although I do understand what all the criticism is about, Aristotle’s philosophy does interest me. But, we should remember the time this philosophy was written. I think Aristotle was, just like religions do, teaching people the value and importance of being a good person. I personally think most religions started because people believed in an invisible force that wanted to teach them how to behave for a society to work and in order to feel love for themselves and one another. It meant doing no harm, as you can see as one of the pillars of most religions. Although Aristotle was against traditional religion, I think he did share this perspective. Happiness, therefore, should not be seen as the purpose but more as the reward for being a good person.
Whether he genuinely believed in happiness as an end goal or framed it that way to motivate people to live a virtuous life, I am not sure. Still, I don’t think there is any harm in focusing on this goal if the way to get there is to actually be kind to each other and treat each other with the patience, love, and respect everyone deserves.
The meaning of life
I personally believe we should embrace our rational minds and use them to make the right decisions in our lives. Is Aristotle’s philosophy incomplete since he doesn’t tell us what the right decisions are? I don’t think so. After all, we have our rational minds, but we have feelings too. Wouldn’t you rather listen to that and learn through personal experiences what the right decisions are? Isn’t the beauty of life that we can learn our own lessons and then seize the fruits on the way? I think that that is when we experience the most happiness. When we feel like we could change our minds, feelings, and behavior, and suddenly realize we are on the right path. That we can contemplate life through thinking, feeling, and connecting with each other. This is why it’s so important to give ourselves space to think and feel, but also to discuss what is on our minds with the people around us.
Let’s say we look at these two quotes:
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim, and end of human existence.”
– Aristotle
And
“The whole is more than the sum of its parts.”
– Aristotle
What if all this time, what Aristotle really meant was that if everyone strives for happiness by living a virtuous life, your virtuous behavior would not only make you feel better about yourself but would lead to happiness for all? And that realizing this shared responsibility is the meaning of life?
