1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,960 Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who lived in Athens in the 4th century BC. 2 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:16,200 For Aristotle, ethics is based on a basic purpose that everybody wants to achieve. 3 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:18,200 Think about this for a while. 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,880 What do you want to achieve? 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,380 Maybe you think that different people want different goals. 6 00:00:24,380 --> 00:00:26,480 They try to achieve different things. 7 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:30,740 Some people want to be rich, other people want to be famous, other people want a good 8 00:00:30,740 --> 00:00:35,640 job, other people want to create a family, and it's okay. 9 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:42,720 Aristotle would agree, but then he would ask these people, why do you want that? 10 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:44,960 Why do you want the money? 11 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:46,760 What do you want the money for? 12 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:49,480 Or what do you want the fame for? 13 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:52,520 Or what do you want your family for? 14 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:57,120 If someone wants to be rich, he wants the money to obtain something with it. 15 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:02,960 It is not an end in itself, it is a means, an instrument to obtain something more. 16 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,840 What do you want with the money? 17 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:10,560 With the money, and with the fame, and with a good job, and with a family, and with all 18 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:17,480 the kinds of things that we want, Aristotle thought that we are all looking for something, 19 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:19,920 which is happiness. 20 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:24,160 When we achieve happiness, that's it, that's what we want. 21 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:27,500 We don't want happiness to obtain anything else. 22 00:01:27,500 --> 00:01:31,800 Happiness is not an instrument, it is an end in itself. 23 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:36,600 So Aristotle thought that, though different people might want different things, in the 24 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:42,160 long run, what we all want is the same, is to be happy. 25 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:46,600 So the ethics of Aristotle is an ethics of happiness. 26 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:53,480 He is thinking about how we can really achieve happiness. 27 00:01:53,480 --> 00:02:00,840 That's why the ethics of Aristotle is considered an ends-based ethics, because he thinks we 28 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:08,400 have a purpose in our life, an end, an objective, which is the pursuit of happiness. 29 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:13,320 Aristotle's ethics, it is also called eudaimonic ethics. 30 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,960 These difficult words come from Greek. 31 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:24,200 In Greek, eudaimonia means happiness, so an eudaimonic ethics is an ethics that considers 32 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:28,560 happiness the basic goal of our life. 33 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:30,920 And how can we achieve happiness? 34 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:34,360 What does Aristotle have to tell us? 35 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:41,120 He gives us some advice if we want to be happy, because Aristotle thought that real happiness 36 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:47,280 consists in becoming the kind of person you want to be. 37 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:54,320 So he thought that it is important to consider slowly what kind of person you want to become 38 00:02:54,320 --> 00:03:01,600 in the future, and to practice virtue in order to become this kind of person. 39 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:07,840 He said, if you want to be happy, think about the person you want to become, and then get 40 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:16,040 used to practicing good habits, virtues, in order to become this kind of person. 41 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:18,600 And what is virtue for Aristotle? 42 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:24,560 Aristotle thought that virtue lies in the middle ground between excesses and defects. 43 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:31,680 So extremes are bad, the middle point is correct, is virtue. 44 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:38,880 Aristotle's recipe for happiness is practice virtue, choose a middle point, think carefully 45 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:44,080 with prudence the kind of person you want to be, and get used to practicing the kind 46 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,480 of good habits that will get you closer to this important goal.