Abstract

This chapter presents the most influential form of teleological eudaimonism in Greek antiquity, that of Aristotle. He argues that a good human being, like a good lute, is one that fulfills its function well; and that the specifically human function is to think, both practically and theoretically. One has excellence in practical thought when one has acquired as habits the virtues of character (e.g., justice), which in turn requires the virtue of practical wisdom enabling one to choose wisely, i.e., in accord with one’s correct _boulȇsis_ (wish or will for happiness). The correct form of _boulȇsis_ identifies happiness with a life of the virtues. An even greater excellence is the godly exercise of theoretical wisdom in disciplines such as mathematics, metaphysics, and theology; indeed, this is the greatest happiness possible for humans, though a life of the practical virtues is happy in a secondary sense.