Some thoughts

A Good and Meaningful Life
To live a life where I pursue knowledge and have friends to help me in that pursuit while achieving some level of what Aristotle describes as intellectual divinity sounds to me like reasonable recipe for a happy and meaningful life. What I’d like to do here is to describe where I think Aristotle and I are on the same page, and where I have some problems.
Aristotle’s position can be stated, for simplicity’s sake in a formula:
Friendship + Intellectual work/Happiness + Purpose = Good life
The first variable in this equation is friendship. Aristotle argues that friends are necessary to the good life for three reasons. A happy man needs friends to help and be helped by in times of adversity, to “do well by” in times of prosperity, and to satisfy the innate need for companionship because he is, as Aristotle says “a political creature”. It’s common sense that friends are useful in bad times. I’m more interested in why Aristotle thinks they’re useful in good or prosperous times. Aristotle argues that we feel more significant and happy when we help other people. This I know to be true from my own personal experiences with both community service and just doing homework with friends. In both these situations, Aristotle clarifies that he believes it is the characteristic of friendship for two people to mutually do well by each other. He also observes that we want to spend more time with friends then chance persons. This makes logical sense to me and is consistent with my experience in life to date. Being around friends makes me happier, and helping them gives me a sense of purpose. Although I am just one data point, I’m glad to discover that Aristotle and I are on the same side of this issue, although I admit that I’m not used to thinking of friendship in such a serious philosophical context. It’s a little “strange”, to use Aristotle’s word, that friendship is discussed as being just as important an ingredient of a meaningful life as reason and contemplation. I have to wonder about who Aristotle’s friends were, and if they were like mine? He certainly had more impressive professional relationships. Pupil of Plato, teacher of Alexander, inspiration to the Enlightenment are just a few titles he could take on. The second variable in the Good and Meaningful life equation is the person’s commitment to intellectual work. The contemplative life, as Aristotle calls it, is a life where one can ponder significant questions and experiment to find answers. In Nicomachean Ethics he makes a deliberate point of distinguishing between non-intellectual human pursuits and the contemplative life because he views them as separate entities. Once again to my surprise, Aristotle and I are on the same page. I believe that learning is something divine. Going to school is a religious experience for me. I feel happy when I learn something new and even better when I discover it myself. If what I learn is unpleasant for me, at least I will feel accomplished for learning it. It’s in response to these feelings that makes me want to learn more. This gives me a purpose. The pursuit of knowledge is an exclusively human condition, but within human society, Aristotle recognizes that not all people will try their best to use their intellects. Maybe he really did have friends like mine, meaning people who could learn a lot but choose not to. I like his idea that by living intellectually, people can become divine. Aristotle does imply that to live this contemplative life, one must leave behind some things that are common among non-intellectual people. I have known people who are far more euphoric about the prospect of intellectual growth then a chance to socialize. Aristotle I think assumes that all men are like him, and are happy to expand their world view. In today’s culture there are people who do not wish to learn for learning’s sake. I believe that people who do not choose the contemplative life can be happy and feel purpose. However, without living a contemplative life, I know I would feel unfulfilled, unhappy, and without purpose. So again, I’m glad to be on Aristotle’s side about the importance of contemplation, but I am not sure I agree that what’s true for me and for Aristotle is true for everyone. Many people I know, young and old, don’t appear to be contemplative but still claim to have a good and meaningful life. Are they deluded, or is Aristotle wrong? I don’t know yet.
I do believe that to achieve an optimum level of purpose and happiness, it is necessary to blend both friendship and contemplation. The best thing I can think of in my future is finding a place where I can pursue knowledge in the company of friends with that same goal. That would be a good life. I think so. Aristotle thinks so. Simon’s Rock thinks so.