Aristotle believes that we need virtue, both of thought and of character, to achieve that completeness leading to happiness. This is the function: activity in the soul in accord with virtue, where soul is defined as what is in us that carries out our characteristic activity. Aristotle is right in believing we need virtue.
The end of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics Book I introduces the idea that since happiness is “a certain sort of activity of the soul in accord with complete virtue, we must examine virtue,” because doing so will allow us to closer analyze and understand how to study happiness. He goes on to identify two areas: virtues of thought and virtues of character. I believe the philosopher is right when he thinks that a good life requires harnessing both kinds of virtues.
Virtues of thought are simpler to identify, as they include excellence in problem solving skills, abstract and rational thought, mathematics and the like. Virtues of character, which......
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