A History of Philosophy in EpitomeSchwegler, Albert
Philosophy
A History of Philosophy in Epitome
Schwegler, Albert
Philosophy -- History
treated both as different steps of development, and reversing the order
of Socrates, made the rational enlightenment in moral things consequent
upon the moral conduct.
2. THE HIGHEST GOOD.—Every action has an end; but since every end is
only itself a means to some other, we need therefore something after
which we can strive for its own sake, and which is a good absolutely, or
a best. What now is this highest good and supreme object of human
pursuit? In name, at least, all men are agreed upon it, and call it
happiness, but what happiness is, is a much disputed point. If asked in
what human happiness consists, the first characteristic given would be
that it belongs alone to the peculiar being of man. But sensation is not
peculiar to man, for he shares this with the brute. A sensation of
pleasure, therefore, which arises when some desire is gratified, may be
the happiness of the brute, but certainly does not constitute the
essential of human happiness. Human happiness must express the
completeness of intelligent existence, and because intelligence is
essentially activity, therefore the happiness of man cannot consist in
any merely passive condition, but must express a completeness of human
action. Happiness therefore is a well-being, which is at the same time a
well-doing, and it is a well-doing which satisfies all the conditions of
nature, and which finds the highest contentment or well-being in an
unrestrained energy. Activity and pleasure are thus inseparably bound
together by a natural bond, and happiness is the result of their union
when they are sustained through a perfect life. Hence the Aristotelian
definition of happiness. It is a perfect practical activity in a perfect
life.
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