Spring 2013 Ethics Course Practice Exam Questions
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(pseudonym)
(Answer)
Hannah Montana
Aristotle argues that happiness is the goal of human existence because it is an end, not a means. Things like wealth and status are a means to make a person happy-so how can these things be a goal of existence? He also argues that an end goal should come from within yourself, it shouldn't be granted to you by another person. People may argue against it by saying that reaching an afterlife(like the Christian Heaven) is the goal to life. This argument, however, is not necessarily plausible because you are trying to reach happiness- whether is be your own or trying to make God happy.
Muhammad
Happiness is the goal of human existence because everything we do works up to it. Little goals we have ultimately are aimed toward our happiness and even when these smaller goals change over our lives, happiness as a goal remains. Someone could argue against it.
Party Joe
One could argue that another goal to human existence is experience. People need experiences whether good or bad to learn. Bad experiences are not define with happiness, but one could say they are necessary to learn about life. People often say how they learned more about themselves or got more out of experiencing hardships and coming back from it, than just coasting through life without these experiences.
--- Plato Jr.
Aristotle sees human beings as pleasure seeking organisms and each of us are only concerned with our plearure (happiness). This view defines human existance of self serving.
--- Marshawn Lynch
Aristotle aruges that happiness is the goal of human existence by demonstrating that if it is the only objective in the world that can be worked towards as an ed in itself. One stirves to make money so that they can buy things, and one practices and instrument so that they can be a good musician. Everything that one does in life could considered both a means and an end, but happiness is the only thing that could be purely considered an end. There is nothing further in life than pure happiness. Therefore Aristotle argues that this overarching gaol is in fact the one true goal of human existence. This argument seems to make sense. Happiness itself is a large goal, and if a person were to die "happy" many might say that his or her life was fulfilled. However, one might counter this argument by proposing a similar notion, such as peace. Couldn't the ultimate goal of human life be to find peace? this might be similar to the happiness argument, but it is not happiness per say. Peace itself is an ultimate goal. in a likewise manner, one might argue that the goal of an individual's existence is to completely fulfill their unique talents. happiness is not universal by definition, and may look different to different people. However, one could argue that if a person worked to the best of their abilities and talents then their life could be counted as fulfilled.
