Single Idea 25

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / a. Nature of happiness]

Full Idea

The possession of goodness is thought to be compatible with being asleep, or…with inactivity, or…with atrocious suffering.

Gist of Idea

You can be good while asleep, or passive, or in pain

Source

Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1096a02)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.68


A Reaction

This helps to distinguish eudaimonia from the pleasant view of happiness. Pain probably annuls most immediate happiness, but has little to do with long-term flourishing.