Single Idea 5139

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / d. Routes to happiness]

Full Idea

If happiness is not a divine gift, it will be something widely shared; for it can attach, through some form of study or application, to anyone who is not handicapped by some incapacity for goodness.

Gist of Idea

If happiness can be achieved by study and effort, then it is open to anyone who is not corrupt

Source

Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1099b17)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.80


A Reaction

This is a non-elitist view, even though he is saying that study and effort are needed. The explanation of this is that happiness is not achieved through wisdom, but through practical reason (phronesis), which does not require advanced education.