Lucas Santagata

Professor Li

Philosophy Midterm Essay

10/28/19

Achieving True Happiness

Plato and Aristotle were both wise teachers and thought-provoking philosophers who

were very well respected in their views. While both men are considered modern-day pioneers

for civilization, they did not have identical viewpoints on how to analyze every aspect of

society. Aristotle was a student of Plato, and what separated him from the other students was

that he dared to disagree with the wise teachings of his renowned superior. Despite being his

student, Aristotle’s concept of happiness is more relevant and realistic than Plato’s complicated

view of the same subject. Plato had a well-received and revered idea at the time regarding

achieving happiness. To Aristotle, however, the concept of happiness was not as complex, and

it was instead quite simple and straightforward. While both philosophers valued happiness, it is

fascinating that two of the wisest individuals in history had strongly opposing views of such an

important topic.

Plato believed that happiness revolved around his four moral virtues of wisdom,

courage, moderation, and most importantly, justice. If a person had all four of these traits, then

that person would surely become a happy individual. First, wisdom is the study of intellect. A

wise person is able to use their mind to their advantage and apply it to their every day lives to
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enhance the way that they live. Without wisdom, a person might struggle with everyday

activities that normally would not take a second thought to complete. Plato claims, “As for the

lover of wisdom, what do we suppose he will hold about the other pleasures as compared with

that of knowing the truth as it is and always being in some such state of pleasure while

learning?” (Bloom p. 267 ). This shows that Plato believed a tremendous amount of joy is

derived from learning and using one’s mind. Knowledge is power, and a true wise man is always

learning and using wisdom to guide his decisions. Plato is likely biased in his view on this, since

he was a philosopher and someone who was deeply involved with other philosophers and

thinkers of the time. He was frequently in contact with others who were also preoccupied with

deep thinking, wisdom and seeking the truth, which likely influenced how important he felt it

was to be wise. While it is important to be wise and make thoughtful decisions, a person with a

lesser intellect would likely not gain the amount of pleasure from the quest for knowledge and

learning that Plato and his peers did. Certainly, all people, regardless of intellect, should have

some wisdom to avoid making dangerous decisions. However, the emphasis Plato placed on

wisdom seems too high for those that are not intellectuals. Is a person really using wisdom with

every important decision? What about instinct? For example, a girl sees a fire for the first time,

and proceeds to walk toward it, but turns and walks away once the heat and smoke are too

strong. Is she using wisdom to avoid getting burned, or is this instinct? Was her body sending

warning signals that she was in danger, and is that what caused her to turn away? Or, was it her

keen intellect? Perhaps it’s both, but it is certainly reasonable to think instinct contributed

strongly to her decision. Plato’s second virtue related to happiness, courage, is about the

bravery of an individual, whether it is a guard on the battlefield fighting for his life, or a person
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confessing their deepest secrets. In Plato’s time, courage was especially important among the

guards, as they had to be ready for any situation that might arise. Without courage, a guard

would be living in constant fear, and it would be impossible to find happiness in a state of such

anxiety. When a person feels guilty, they also have anxiety and cannot be truly happy. They

must be able to let go of these feelings to fully accept themselves and be free. Plato’s view on

courage is reasonable, as anxiety in any form is unpleasant and potentially harmful, and any

anxiety will get in the way of feeling true happiness. The third virtue of Plato’s happiness is

moderation, or self-control. A moderate person is able to balance the dangerous temptations in

life, such as drinking too much to the point of becoming intoxicated. He believed everyone

must focus on their individual role in society and work towards the greater good of the city.

Temptations will only get in the way of achieving this, and a moderate person will be able to

live a balanced life that is not controlled by such obsessions. His view on moderation is rational,

as any person who is controlled by these temptations would be unable to contribute to society,

as they can only focus on their desires. Lastly and most importantly, the virtue of justice is

essential in Plato’s ideal city. Justice is the idea of fulfilling your job in society. If every member

of the city does his or her job and completes his or her role, then the city will prosper and

everyone can achieve true happiness. “Shall we hire a herald then, or shall I myself announce

that Ariston’s son has decided that the best and most just man is happiest, and he is that man

who is kingliest and is king of himself; while the worst and most unjust man is the most

wretched and he, in his turn, happens to be the one who, being most tyrannic, is most tyrant of

himself and of the city” (Bloom 261). This demonstrates how strongly Plato felt about the idea

of justice, and it is required for a successful city and positive individuals. Plato believed that the
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happiness of an individual runs through their city. A happy and just city will result in the same

for all of its people, as they each play a role in their city’s prosperity. Plato’s view of the

importance of justice and fulfilling one’s role in society to achieve happiness, however, is

flawed. While it is better in all societies for citizens to be civil, cooperate and feel connected as

a community, the disparities between those that are thriving and those that are struggling are

too great. In modern cities and towns all over the world, there are millions of poor people that

are working very hard and fulfilling their role but still struggling to get by. This struggle

diminishes their happiness and causes anxiety, especially when they see others working less

diligently to fulfill their role and succeeding anyway. The disparity also causes an uncomfortable

disconnect in the community. Instead of justice, the virtue of fairness may have been a better

choice in the interest of achieving happiness. Another flaw in Plato’s approach has to do with

his failure to recognize mental illness in society. People suffering from depression and other

mental illnesses would not be able to achieve that level of happiness by simply watching their

city prosper.

Aristotle had a more individualistic take on the concept of happiness. He argued that

happiness is the main goal of life, as it is something that humans aim for and work towards

from the second that they are born. Aristotle did not view happiness as a state to be in, but

instead as accumulating and maintaining virtue throughout one’s life. According to Aristotle,

“There are, then, three dispositions, two of them vices-one relating to an excess, the other to a

deficiency- and one of them a virtue, namely, the mean” (Bartlett and Collins 38). This

demonstrates Aristotle’s views on virtue as it relates to happiness; he saw it as a mean value

between two extremes. Aristotle believed living in the middle and avoiding excesses in either
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direction would foster a life of achieving happiness. Aristotle split virtue into two different

types, moral virtue and intellectual virtue, “Both the coming-into-being and increase of

intellectual virtue result mostly from teaching-hence it requires experience and time-whereas

moral virtue is the result of habit, and so it is that moral virtue got its name [ethike] by a slight

alteration of the term habit [ethos]” (Bartlett and Collins 26). He felt happiness was achieved

by the regular habit of acting and behaving ethically throughout one’s lifetime. The concept of

friendship was crucial to Aristotle as well. Aristotle described friendship as “reciprocated

goodwill” in his Nicomachean Ethics writing, and he valued it so strongly that he considered it a

foundational model for some political systems. He believed without having any friends, it would

be very hard to achieve happiness. The natural condition of man is to live with others, and

nobody wants to experience all the good things in life by themselves. “As for the remaining part

of what is pleasant, which is found in life, he who is pleasant as he ought to be is friendly and

the relevant mean, friendliness (friendship)” (Bartlett and Collins 38). Aristotle breaks friendship

into 3 different sections: useful friendships, pleasant friendships, and noble friendships. Useful

and pleasant friendships consist of more casual relationships between people, such as

teammates or co-workers, or someone that you share a common interest with. Noble

friendship, however, is a higher form of a relationship between two people who share similar

virtues. In a noble friendship, people focus on perfecting their minds. Once a person completely

understands their societal role and how they can efficiently contribute, they will then be fully

happy. Aristotle’s view of happiness is more reasonable than Plato’s, especially because

Aristotle focuses on the individual and the accumulation of happiness through moral habit.

Everyone is responsible for discovering his or her path to happiness, and it differs greatly from
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one person to the next. It is certainly reasonable to believe that regularly engaging in moral

behavior like helping others, being fair and being honest would accumulate into the

achievement of happiness from repeatedly “doing the right thing.” This consistent honorable

behavior becomes part of a person’s nature, and he or she will naturally live a virtuous life. In

addition, his emphasis on experiencing a wide variety of friendships is an important part of

achieving happiness, especially noble friendships like Aristotle had with Plato, where friends

can challenge and elevate one another. Everyone benefits from all types of friendships,

whether casual or deep, they help people feel supported and connected, and they help to

reduce loneliness.

Aristotle’s point of view on happiness is more relevant and sensible than Plato’s view.

Plato believed that happiness runs throughout the city, and his bias caused him to

overemphasize the importance of justice and a population-based approach to happiness. His

emphasis on wisdom is flawed as well, as he does not consider instinct or mental illness in his

approach. Plato’s complicated system requiring four virtues is overly complex, and does not

adequately address what is truly required to achieve happiness. In contrast, Aristotle’s

individualistic approach ranges from person to person, and its emphasis on frequent virtuous

behavior and a wide variety of friendships is a much simpler and more accurate way to achieve

happiness. Every person wants to be happy, why add stress and overwhelm the process by

making it more complicated than it has to be?

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Works Cited

1. Bartlett, Robert C. and Susan D. Collins. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. The University of

Chicago Press. Chicago, IL. 2012.

2. Bloom, Allan. The Republic of Plato. Basic Books. New York, NY. 2016.

3. www.the-philosophy.com/plato-aristotle-similarities-differences

4. www.psychologytoday.com

a. “Achieving Happiness: Advice from Plato”

b. “Aristotle on Happiness”

5. www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2016/06/16819/

a. “Aristotle, True Friendship, and the Soulmate View of Marriage”