Perhaps happiness (or a “good spirit”) isn’t the meaning of life, but rather the meaning of human action.Īristotle has more to say on the meaning of life than I have the space to share, but here is a bit more that I enjoyed from his Nichomachean Ethics (Book 1, 7.13-16 taken from ): I think this translation captures the meaning of the quote better: “ Happiness, then, is something final and self-sufficient, and is the end of action” (from /Aristotle/nicomachaen.1.i.html). Eudaimonia comes from 2 Greek words, eu (“good”) and daimon (“spirit, soul, divine power”), and refers to a general idea of prosperity, good luck, etc. Aristotle uses the word eudaimonia ( εὐδαιμονία), which is translated “happiness” here, but in fact has a broader meaning than that. I found all over the internet the following famous quote: “ Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Now being a Classicist, I was sure that’s not exactly what Aristotle meant (the Greeks weren’t very warm and fuzzy). Sadly, I am not as familiar with Aristotle as I am with Plato, so I’ve had to do more digging to come up with Aristotle’s take on the meaning of life (at least some part of his view). However, from him we learn that “ the unexamined life is not worth living” (spoken by Socrates in Plato’s Apology), so some meaning must be gained from merely contemplating and investigating the material of life.ĪRISTOTLE. I don’t remember him ever directly addressing the meaning of life in general, though he questions just about every principle of life.

I have read most of Plato’s writings, some in the original Greek. Why are we here? What is the point of this whole thing we call “life”? I’ve been struggling with this recently, so I’ve decided to take a look at what some of the great minds have to say about it. Quite the question to start one’s day with, yet I can’t seem to escape it.

What is the meaning of life