What is Happiness?

All knowledge and moral choice grasps at the good of some kind. What good is that πολιτικὴ aims at?

What is the highest of all the goods which are the objects of action?

Both the masses and the wise agree that HAPPINESS and “being happy” are the same with “living well” and “doing well”.

But men dispute about the Nature of this Happiness.

• Here, the masses do not agree with the wise.

Some say happiness is those things which are palpable and apparent, such as pleasure, wealth, or honour.

Often, the same man gives a different account of happiness.

• When sick, he calls happiness as health
• When poor, he calls it wealth

Some believe that happiness to be something by itself.

It is useless to sift all these opinions.

I will just sift through those which are most generally current, or those that have some reason in them.

There is a difference between:

• reasoning from principles
• reasoning to principles

Plato properly doubted this. He asked whether the right road is:

• from principles or
• towards principles

As individuals, we begin with what we do know.

A principle is a matter of fact. If the fact is clear to a man, there will be no need to add reason for the fact.

Such a trained man thus either:

• has principles already, or
• can receive principles easily