ristotle believed happiness must be based on human nature, and begin from the facts of personal experience. It must be found in work and life; that true happiness is found in the active life of a rational being or in a perfect realization and outworking of the true soul and self throughout a lifetime.Aristotle, according to Sanderson Beck, considered the life of money making constrained, because wealth is only good as a means. He found that human good is the exercise of human faculties especially reason, according to the best virtues which, when done over a lifetime, results in happiness. The virtuous person is more likely to be happy permanently. A person can be happy even if they are under duress financially if they bear the burden with grace. Aristotle believed that good was actual not just something could be merely obtained.He believed that ethical qualities could be destroyed by excess or defect. Even too much of a good thing could be bad. For example, if someone fears everything, they will become a coward, while someone who has no fear acts recklessly. Someone who overindulges in pleasures is undisciplined, while those who avoid every pleasure are insensitive.Humans have the ability to control desires. He calls this “moral virtue” and is the focus of morality. Our ability to control our desires is not instinctive, but learned from both teaching and practice. Problems can occur if we regulate our desires too much or too little. “Intellectual virtue” is the purely rational part; the part responsible for the ability to contemplate, reason and formulate scientific principles.Friendship is vital to the human soul according to Aristotle. If not itself a virtue, then it can be associated with virtue and is helpful living a moral life. A true friend, according to Aristotle, is a second self, and the true moral value of friendship lies in the fact that the friend presents to us a mirror of good actions...
