Your task in this essay is to 1)explain Aristotle’s idea of happiness, eudaimonia, 2)apply it to a case drawn fromThe New York Times, and 3)draw a conclusionaboutAristotelian flourishing as a way of judging the good life in the contemporary world. Distinguish eudaimonia from other common ideas about what it means to be happy, and pay special attention to the connection between happiness, ends that are good in themselves, and excellence or virtue. You should write for an audience that has never read Aristotle. Be a good teacher. Find an article on a specific figure–perhaps a celebrity, a political figure, an athlete, an artist, or an “ordinary” person–and explain if they are happy by Aristotle’s standards. Decide whether or not Aristotle’s idea of happiness helped you better understand the figure you chose, and judge on that basis whether or not his philosophy is applicable in the contemporary world.
