"The lovers of what is noble find pleasant the things that are by nature pleasant; and virtuous actions are suchÂ… Their life, therefore, has no further need of pleasure as a sort of adventitious charm, but has pleasure in itself."
Ethics, I.8
Aristotle was a student under Plato, and although he did not believe in the metaphysical Forms that Plato so firmly believed in, he did apply an element of the theory behind the Forms. Instead, what Aristotle postulated was that there was some ultimate, some final goal to which we all reach, but instead of being some unattainable goal, it was very simple: happiness. Happiness manifests itself in all of our actions, whether it's a conscious process or not, but when we are truly happy is when we do things that are virtuous and honorable. And instead of being some latent part of another goal, Aristotle stated that happiness was the goal, that there was no higher form to achieve beyond.
In chapter seven of Book One, Aristotle is almost......
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