John Richter
In his search for happiness, Aristotle addresses the issue of friendship as a path to attaining happiness, namely through another person. Is true happiness possible? And if so to what extent is this friendship a requisite for happiness? Friendship is something that everyone experiences in their life, something that will happen no matter what kind of person you are. Friendships can yield many things, and I believe that happiness is one of them. Human beings by nature are socially dependant creatures and require interaction with other human beings to function properly, and that is why friendship, the love or happiness from another person, is required for true happiness.
Aristotle questions if it is more important to love oneself more than another person in part of living the good life. While loving yourself is good, it is not good nor healthy to love yourself to an extent that you are more preoccupied with yourself than the feelings of others around you. If you only care for yourself, then you wont get the appreciative and reciprocating feelings from others that in turn make one happy. Others will respond better to you and give good feelings back if you show love for others above yourself. The way I think of it is that if you love yourself and are self sufficient in happiness, it will only get you so much. The human being naturly craves more and can use more. The friendship and affection of others is far greater than the love you can supply yourself. You can only love yourself so much, so that is why you need the friendship of others. I believe that this friendship with others, accompanied by love of yourself, is the key to true happiness.
Aristotle puts out the thought that if someone who is self sufficiently content with themselves has everything they need, that they do not need others to help them achieve any greater happiness. This is not true, however, he claims. The nature of the person, similar to what I stated above, is to be in a city and share their feelings and happiness with others. He also reminds us of the concept that happiness is a state, a being-at-work, not just a fleeting feeling or expression. It is only sensible then, that the state of happiness be proved by the sharing and perpetuating of the state with others. He says it is also easier to be at work with others rather than by yourself, as it is simply more fulfilling and comfortable. Aristotle also touches on the concept that he will later fully develop: that it is helpful and somewhat necessary to discuss with others the actions and state of your happiness. Later he will claim that philosophizing with others is the root to pure happiness, however I will hold the idea true that conferring with others about things is also a requirement for being in a state of happiness. When you experience something fun or fulfilling, it becomes that much more exciting and cool when you tell somebody else about it. This is just the way people are, they desire this and don’t know why—a force that drives them without a clear reason of why, which is what we started out trying to discover.
Aristotle states that someone can attempt to be happy with themselves and be self sufficiently in a state of happiness; however, this will not suffice. Only in interacting and conferring with others can you truly achieve the sate of happiness. By discussing, conferring, and sharing life experience and the being-at-work, one will become happy with themselves.
