In the 1st Book of Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle began an argument by stating "But presumably the remark that the best good is happiness is apparently something [generally] agreed, and we still need a clearer statement of what the best good is. Perhaps, then, we shall find this if we first grasp the function of a human being" (1097b22-25). For Aristotle's Closing statement he said "And so the human good [happiness] proves to be activity of the soul in accord with virtue, and indeed with the best and most complete virtue, if there are more virtues than one". This statement was written over 1000 years ago in a language now considered dead in the modern day. Therefore for the duration of this paper I will attempt to explain and elaborate on what Aristotle is trying to say.
In Aristotle's opening statement he is saying that happiness is the best good there is, which was an idea that was universally agreed by everyone, although with the invention of material goods, there has been debate about the legitimacy of this statement. To give a better viewpoint on his statement Aristotle gave examples of what in his day constituted as humans being good. Those examples were of a violinist, an arts and crafts man as well as a sculptor.
In his next statement Aristotle displays a side of relativism; he says that every function is good relative to its function. In other wards a carpenter will be good at being a carpenter but he will not be good at being a painter or a teacher in that right. From that statement I also understood that, in the same context as carpenters strive to be good at being a carpenter so should humans strive to be good at living.
In the middle of his argument Aristotle starts comparing human beings to plants in terms of their living. One thing that humans and Plants have in common is that for both plants and humans to live we need to obtain the same thing which is nutrition and growth, but Aristotle brushes that notion aside by stating Human Beings and plants also share those same basic necessities with Animals such as oxen, horses and every other type of animal out there.
