Book 1 Chapter 2 of Nicomachean Ethics is two paragraphs long.
In the first paragraph, Aristotle argues that there is a “chief good” or highest end
that all human action strives toward.
This highest good is what we want to gain knowledge about by studying ethics.
In the second paragraph, Aristotle argues that this ethical science of the highest good
will be a *political* science, about the proper governance of cities.
All other human activities will fall under this master science of ethics/politics, which
tells us how to achieve the highest human good.
Now let’s take a look at the text.
“So, if what is done has some end that we want for its own sake,
and everything else we want is for the sake of this end;
and if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else
(because this would lead to an infinite progression, making our desire fruitless and vain),
then clearly this will be the good, indeed the chief good.”
Let’s pause here to examine this long hypothetical sentence.
Aristotle first says *if* there is an end of action that we want for its own sake—there
is, and the end we want for its own sake is happiness.
He then says *if* we want everything else for the sake of this end—this is true; we
want other things because they contribute to our happiness or flourishing.
Lastly, he says *if* we do not choose *everything* for the sake of something else, that is, our
desires are not all conditional desires, but can finally be satisfied and come to rest—and
this is also true, since happiness or the good life is the end we do not want for the
sake of something further we can gain beyond it.
(Think about it—what further end could *happiness* be a means to achieving?)
Putting these all together, we can read his conditional statement: *if* all three of these
things are true, *then* the thing we desire for itself only (i.e., happiness) is the good,
the highest human good.
All of human life is directed to achieving this highest good, and our success or failure
in life is measured by our attaining or failing to attain it.
Returning now to the text: “Surely, then, knowledge of the good must
be very important for our lives?
And if, like archers, we have a target, are we not more likely to hit the right mark?
If so, we must try at least roughly to comprehend what it is and which science or faculty is
concerned with it.”
Here Aristotle tells us this chief good will be the most important thing for us to know,
and he compares it to the target we aim at in all our actions.
Like archers, we stand more chance of success, even in difficult tasks, if we can see the
target clearly.
Back to the text: “Knowledge of the good would seem to be
the concern of the most authoritative science, the highest master science.
And this is obviously the science of politics, because it lays down which of the sciences
should be in cities, and which each class of person should learn and up to what level.”
So, politics/ethics will be the science of all sciences, the field of study that gives
us the ultimate answers about human happiness.
The target we must aim at includes the good of individuals and the good of cities and nations.
Note the similarity to Plato’s theory of the state, in that political science governs
the role and education of each class of citizen.
We will talk more about this later.
That’s the end of my examination of Book 1 Chapter 2 of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.
Thanks for watching today; goodbye.