Aristotle on Happiness

I turned this in for a class assignment. Footnotes have not been included. 

Aristotle recognizes that generally, men say that happiness is the highest of goods to which men aim. However, since some men say that to have health or wealth when one is sick or poor is happiness, or that some ideal above those appetitive pleasures is what happiness is, the disagreement among men makes it unclear as to what the answer is. So, Aristotle points out that there is an end to which all ends strive. A man practices medicine to obtain health, but what is the end of health? The end of strategy is victory, but what is the end of victory? All these ends have a final end, or good, to which they strive. It is final in the sense that the line of questioning or justification terminates there. That end for which other ends strive has nothing else which it strives for. This is what happiness is. It does not make sense to ask what it is that happiness strives for. It is an end unto itself. Since happiness is the final end for human actions, it is important for Aristotle to know what the function of man is. That function is to be virtuous. Further, genuine happiness consists of taking pleasure of doing what is virtuous, for they are in themselves good, noble, and pleasant. A man who does not take pleasure in doing what is good and noble isn’t good, and so cannot obtain happiness. In man there may be contrary urges, so that the man who obeys his reason is continent and the man who disobeys them is incontinent. That being said, happiness can still find external obstacles. An ugly man or man who had lost friends through death does blunt the pleasure of happiness. So in order for happiness to best be experienced, external circumstances, such as looking good or being in good health, may be needed.