Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- I Medieval philosophical literature
- II Aristotle in the middle ages
- III The old logic
- IV Logic in the high middle ages: semantic theory
- V Logic in the high middle ages: propositions and modalities
- VI Metaphysics and epistemology
- VII Natural philosophy
- VIII Philosophy of mind and action
- IX Ethics
- 34 The reception and interpretation of Aristotle's Ethics
- 35 Happiness: the perfection of man
- 36 Conscience
- 37 Natural morality and natural law
- X Politics
- XI The defeat, neglect, and revival of scholasticism
- Index nominum
- Index rerum
- References
35 - Happiness: the perfection of man
from IX - Ethics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- I Medieval philosophical literature
- II Aristotle in the middle ages
- III The old logic
- IV Logic in the high middle ages: semantic theory
- V Logic in the high middle ages: propositions and modalities
- VI Metaphysics and epistemology
- VII Natural philosophy
- VIII Philosophy of mind and action
- IX Ethics
- 34 The reception and interpretation of Aristotle's Ethics
- 35 Happiness: the perfection of man
- 36 Conscience
- 37 Natural morality and natural law
- X Politics
- XI The defeat, neglect, and revival of scholasticism
- Index nominum
- Index rerum
- References
Summary
The Aristotelian concept of happiness and the Christian tradition
The medieval discussion of happiness both before and after the reception of Aristotle is governed by two basic thoughts: there is no happiness in this world because ‘all men, so long as they are mortal, are also necessarily wretched’; true happiness is to be found only in the enjoyment of the contemplation of God (frui Deo) in the world to come. Thus the concept of happiness involves an element that transcends human capacities. But the Aristotelian and Christian conceptions also understand happiness as the perfection of human nature, the actualisation of the possibilities inherent in man. This rules out all definitions of happiness in terms of something like worldly wealth, which is external to human nature, or like the satisfaction of sensual desire, which is not specific to human nature. For Aristotle as for others the essence of happiness is to be found in perfection. It is in that spirit, for instance, that Anselm regards the contemplation of God as the perfection of human rationality, because without this form of happiness man would be rational to no purpose.
The difference between the Christian and the philosophical conception is particularly clear in the Dialogus inter philosophum, Iudaeum, et Christianum of Peter Abelard. While the philosophers speak only of ethics, aiming primarily for the way to the highest good, and accordingly deal mainly with the virtues, Christians take the goal itself as their starting point.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Later Medieval PhilosophyFrom the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Disintegration of Scholasticism, 1100–1600, pp. 673 - 686Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1982
References
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