Abstract
Twice in the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle strongly rejects the idea that virtue is sufficient for happiness. At 1,5, 1095b32-1096a2 he says, "it seems to be possible to be asleep while possessing virtue, or to be inactive all one's life, and also to suffer evils and the greatest misfortunes; and someone with a life like that no-one would call happy, unless they were defending a thesis at all costs." And at VII 13, 1153b14-25 Aristotle says that everyone thinks the happy life must be pleasant, since happiness cannot be hampered or impeded. "Hence the happy person needs the goods of the body and the external goods and fortune, so as not to be hampered in these ways. Those who assert that the person broken on the wheel and falling into great misfortunes is happy, provided that he is virtuous are, willingly or unwillingly, talking nonsense."
Recommended Citation
Annas, Julia
(1988)
"Aristotle on Virtue and Happiness,"
University of Dayton Review: Vol. 19:
No.
3, Article 3.
Available at:
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/udr/vol19/iss3/3
