Section 5: How people typically conceptualize a happy life

Let us continue our discussion again from the point where we digressed.

People, not unreasonably, get their impressions of the good–which is to say, impressions of the happy life–from the lives they actually live. _[15] The majority of people identify the good or happiness with pleasure, which is why they love the life of pleasure. For there are three basic types of life that stand out: the life of pleasure, the life of a good citizen, and the contemplative life.

(1) The life of pleasure

Most people are evidently quite servile, preferring a life suitable to cattle, the life of pleasure. _[20] Yet they have some argument for their view, since many in positions of authority have the same tastes as Sardanapallus, [the Assyrian king who lived a life of extreme self-indulgence, sloth, and decadent luxury].

(2a) The life of the citizen focused on having a good reputation

People who are more accomplished and practically oriented tend to identify happiness with a good reputation. For having a good reputation is, roughly speaking, the goal of the life of a good citizen. But a good reputation seems too superficial to be what we are seeking. After all, it seems a person’s good reputation exists more in the minds of those who think well of that person instead of being a quality of that person himself. _[25] Yet we affirm that the good belongs to the person himself and is difficult to take away. Furthermore, people seem to pursue a good reputation in order to be assured of their own goodness. At any rate, people typically seek to be honored for their excellent or virtuous qualities, and they seek this reputation for excellence among reasonable people and people who know them. According to them, at least, it is clear that excellence or virtue is better than a good reputation.

(2b) The life of the citizen focused on having virtue

Perhaps one might even suppose that the overall goal of the life of a good citizen _[30] is having virtue, rather than having a good reputation. But even having virtue appears somewhat incomplete. For it seems possible to have virtue while being asleep or inactive throughout one’s life, and further, while suffering the greatest evils and misfortunes. _[1096a1] Yet no one would call someone who was living like that happy, unless he were maintaining a thesis at all costs. But enough of this; for the subject has been sufficiently treated even in the current discussions.

(3) The contemplative life

Third comes the contemplative life, which we will put off considering until later.

(4) The life of moneymaking

The life of moneymaker _[5] is one of compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking. For wealth is merely useful and for the sake of getting something else.

Conclusion

Therefore, instead of wealth, one might be more inclined to suppose that pleasure, good reputation, or having virtue is the goal of life, for at least these are loved for their own sakes. But it appears that pleasure, good reputation, and having virtue are not the goal of life either, since many arguments have been presented against them. Let us leave this subject, then.