亚里士多德论幸福的进路——《尼各马可伦理学》的一种解读

Aristotle’s Approach to Happiness—An Interpretation of the “Nicomachean Ethics”

摘要: 幸福的讨论从古至今仍不间断，古希腊哲学家亚里士多德也形成了自己独特的幸福观。《尼各马可伦理学》一书中，亚里士多德以“自上而下，自下返上”的逻辑方法，以灵魂为基础，从“善”出发，提取出“最高善”概念与幸福直接挂钩，而人必先“潜在地‘是幸福的’”，尔后才“实现地‘是幸福的’”，即幸福虽不是天生显现的，却是先天潜在的，且是能够通过后天努力获得的。那么如何实现最高善(即幸福)？有两条路径：一是需要借助德性的完满。德性分为道德德性和理智德性，两者分别作用又彼此联系，道德德性的完满依靠逻各斯和适度，理智德性依靠明智、努斯和逻各斯。德性的完满强调做一种合乎德性的实现活动，知行合一，认知最高善，方能活在其中，即是幸福；二是通过最好的德性的实现活动——过沉思的生活，这种生活与智慧、努斯和神性相关。这两条是亚里士多德的主要探寻幸福的进路。

Abstract: The discussion of happiness has never ceased from ancient times to the present. Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, also formed his own unique view of happiness. In the book “Nicomachean Ethics”, Aristotle, using a “top-down and bottom-up” logical method, based on the soul and starting from “good”, extracted the concept of “the highest good” and directly linked it to happiness. People must first be “potentially happy” and then “actually happy”. That is, happiness is not inherently manifested but is inherently potential and can be obtained through later efforts. Then, how to achieve the highest good (i.e., happiness)? There are two paths: One is to rely on the perfection of virtue. Virtue is divided into moral virtue and intellectual virtue, which act separately but are interrelated. The perfection of moral virtue depends on reason and moderation, while the perfection of intellectual virtue depends on wisdom, nous, and reason. The perfection of virtue emphasizes doing a virtuous realization activity, integrating knowledge and action, understanding the highest good, and living in it, which is happiness; the other is through the best virtuous realization activity—living a contemplative life, which is related to wisdom, nous, and divinity. These two are Aristotle’s main approaches to exploring happiness.