What Aristotle’s ethical theory is all about this: he’s trying to show you how to be happy—what true happiness is.
To understand his interest in happiness, we have to understand the distinction about Extrinsic value and Instrinsic value.（外在价值和内在价值）
Some things we aim for and value, not for themselves but for what they bring about in addition to themselves. If I value something as a mean to something else, then it has what we will call “ extrinsic value”. Other things we desire and hold to be valuable for themselves alone. If we value something not as a mean to something else, but not for its own sake, let us say that it has “instinct value”. Marathon, there maybe some people who value marathon for itself, but I don’t. I show it in wechat to get others’ admire and I tend to do exercise for health. Not for its own sake, but as a mean to something beyond it. It brings me good health and fame.
Health, I value health both for itself and as a means to something else: a productive life. It’s got extrinsic and intrinsic value.
Then, Aristotle asks: is there something that all people being value? And value only intrinsically, for its own sake and only for its own sake? If we could find such a thing, that would be the universal final good, or truly the ultimate purpose or goal for all human beings. Aristotle thought the answer was yeas. What is it? Happiness!
Every will agree that happiness is the ultimate end to be valued for itself and really only for itself. For what other purpose is there being happy? What does it yield? The attainment of happiness becomes the ultimate or highest food for Aristotle.幸福是人类统一的终极的价值追求.
So, the next question that Aristotle raise is: what is happiness? We all want it; we all desire it; we all seek it. It’s the goal we have in life. But what is it? How could we find it? True human happiness should be, as he put it, complete. Complete in that it’s all we require. If we had that, what else do we need? Nothing.
And secondly , true happiness should be Something that we can obtain by ourselves. We shouldn’t rely on other people for it. Many people value fame and seek fame. Fame for them becalmed the goal. But according to Aristotle, this won’t work either, because fame depends altogether too much on other people. We can’t get it on our own, without help from other people.
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那么，在亚里士多德看来，什么是幸福呢？幸福是一切选择所趋向的最高目的的完满实现。所以他把幸福界定为：“幸福就是合乎德性的实现活动”。如何理解亚里士多德对幸福的这一界定？
亚里士多德认为幸福为人生最高的目标，但他将幸福规定为“至善”，强调幸福是一种符合德性的现实活动。于是，对于幸福的理解可以分为以下几点：
首先，幸福是至善。亚里士多德把善分为三类，一类是外在的善，另一类是身体的善，还有一类是灵魂的善。相比于其他两类善，灵魂的善是主要的、最高的善。在他看来，外在的善并不是幸福，尽管幸福本身也需要外在的善作为补充。因为赤手空拳不可能或者难于做到好事情。真正的幸福在于灵魂的善。因此，作为最高的善的幸福就是灵魂的合乎理性的现实活动。由于幸福是内在的善，是最高的善，所以它是完美的和自足的，它是行为的目的。这就使他将幸福与感官快乐等同的快乐论观点区别开来，并使他的思想学说具有德性论的特征。就幸福与快乐的关系来说，外在的物质条件仅仅是幸福生活的必要条件，心灵的安宁和自足才是真正的充分条件。快乐就是要发挥理智德性，把灵魂的痛苦驱赶出去，让灵魂获得宁静、快乐，不受侵扰。亚里士多德也认为，快乐是灵魂的习惯，许多人的快乐相互冲突，因为那些快乐不是本性上令人愉悦的。幸福应伴随着快乐，但是快乐就不一定幸福，幸福不是脸上的笑容，喜剧越来越多，越来越别出心裁但是换来的是大家越来越多的赞扬吗？答案是否定的。用理性找到本性上令我们愉悦的东西，发自内心的快乐才是幸福。
其次，幸福是符合德性的现实活动。这里可以从两个方面把握。第一，幸福是和德性紧密相连的。一个人生活的幸福与否，就要看他的生活或行为是否合乎德性。因为德性是善，只有善的生活才是幸福的生活。第二，幸福还在于某种实现的活动。幸福不是静态的，它是通过活动来实现的。亚里士多德强调德性绝不能停留在对德性的知性认识上, 而是要在行动中去实现。他说：“ 我们做公正的事情才能成为公正的，进行节制才能成为节制的，表现勇敢才能成为勇敢的。”因此，幸福是通过德性，通过学习和培养得到的，它是最神圣的东西之一。此外，还需要强调的是，这种实现活动还不能是偶尔为之，而必须是众生如此，持久而巩固地进行下去，这样的人我们才能称之为幸福的人。
对于亚里士多德的幸福观，我也只是在学习了西方哲学和伦理学之后的一个大概的理解，还不能深入的把握。简而言之，幸福来自于内心的满足，以及行为上对于品格和道德的追求。
