Happiness, for Aristotle, is to be attained by developing one's potential for a life of reason. The life of reason has two aims: the pursuit of truth through reflection and understanding and the pursuit of virtue through intelligent conduct. Virtue represented a midpoint between extremes of excess and defect. Some actions, however like murder or theft, he saw as bad in themselves and therefore having no midpoint.
Aristotle rejects three common conceptions of happiness, pleasure, honor, and wealth. Happiness, for Aristotle, cannot be identified with any of these things, even if all three are part of an overall happy life. Pleasure is found in satisfying desires, but whether or not we can satisfy our desires is as much up to chance as it is up to us. If human happiness were nothing more than pleasure, then the attainment of the chief human end would not be up to us. We would be "slaves to our desires."".
Aristotle also rejects the idea that the life of honor, the life of being publicly recognized and revered, is the happy life. Again, he points out that whether or not we are honored is not up to us. This view of happiness would put the attainment of our chief end in life into the hands of others. Furthermore, we do not seek honor purely for its own sake, we also seek it as a measure of our worth. But happiness is sought for its own sake. .
Aristotle sees wealth as merely useful, it is not sought for itself but for what it can be used to achieve. Wealth is a mean for something else, a rich person who works hard to accumulate wealth is not in search of just money, but does it to eventually obtain happiness. .
Aristotle as an attempt to find out our highest good views ethics as the end, which he maintains, is really final. Though many ends of life are only means to further ends, our aspirations and desires must have some final object or pursuit. This end is called happiness. .
