Blog 7

I find reading Aristotle and other philosophy writings very difficult and I don't know if I understood any of this. The writing is not straight forward or clear so hopefully I didn't miss-understand any of this. I think Aristotle's is trying to get across the point that everything we do in life is to aim for happiness or to be good. I think pretty much everyone would say their goal in life is to be happy but everyone has a different definition of happiness. Aristotle believes that one’s happiness can’t be measured or reflected on until ones death. I think this is because life has ups and downs and is constantly changing until its over. People can be happy or sad and different time periods of their life but once they are dead society can then look at their life as a whole and say if that person was happy or not. Maybe I think of happiness as something different because I don’t understand this concept. Yes, I think that it’s easier to be able to look at someone’s life as a whole to say if overall they were happy, good, or successful but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be considered a happy person while you’re still alive. I also believe happiness to be a state of mind what only ones self can determine. 

Before this class I didn’t know what a virtue was, I hadn't even heard the word before. From the past readings and classroom discussions I was able to get a general idea of what they are but I have a better understanding now. It important to realize that virtues are not activities, they are a state of being. Happiness is an activity. If we’re aiming for happiness as our life goal we need virtues, but virtue does not guarantee happiness. These virtues can be innate or learned. The ones that are learned are learned by habits and practice. We saw this to be true with both Franklin and Darwin. They chose to make habits and practice the virtues that made them good people and also good scientist.