Section 4.1: The human good is a happy life

Let’s resume our inquiry. Since every kind of knowledge and every pursuit aims at some good, what do we say _[15] is the good at which political wisdom aims? And what is the highest of all goods achievable by human action? Verbally there is general agreement: for both average people and those who are wise say that the highest good is a happy life (eudaimonia), and they identify living well and doing well with being happy.

But when it comes to what a happy life is, _[20] they disagree, and average people don’t give the same answer as the wise do. For most people think happiness is some plain and obvious thing, like pleasure, wealth, or having a good reputation. Yet such people differ from one another–and often even the same person identifies a happy life with different things. For instance, often the same person will believe that a happy life is health when he is sick or is wealth when he is poor. But when such people become conscious of their ignorance, _[25] they admire those who proclaim some great ideal that is above their comprehension.

Now certain philosophers thought that apart from the many good things in life there is some other good that is self-subsistent and causes the goodness of all good things. But it would be pointless to examine all the opinions that people have held. It will be sufficient to examine those that are most common or that seem to have some argument that supports them.