Ashley JanowiakHuman happiness and external goods Happiness is a goal that every human being pursues, but the ways in which it is pursued differ between people. Some believe that prosperity will bring them happiness. Others believe that material, power, fame, success or love will bring them happiness. No matter what you believe is the right way to achieve this goal, each person will take their own unique path in trying to find it. But what is happiness? Happiness is often seen as a subjective state of mind in which one can say they are happy when they are on holiday with friends, spending time with family or drinking a cold beer on the weekend while basking in the sun. However, Aristotle and the Stoics define happiness very differently. In Aristotle To achieve complete happiness, Aristotle says that we need three types of goods. The first of these goods is that of the soul, which is moral character and practical wisdom. Aristotle explains that to maintain the soul we must also have external and corporeal goods. He says we need external goods like friends, food, and a little money; without these we are unable to thrive. We also need the goods of the body, which are the fundamental resources for health, strength and beauty. According to Aristotle, if we possess all of these we are able to live our lives to the fullest, which means living well and doing things well (NE 1098b20). In particular in this article I will focus on why Aristotle believes that external goods are necessary for happiness. Aristotle says: «He is happy who lives according to complete virtue and is sufficiently endowed with external goods, not for a casual period but for his whole life» (NE 1101a15). It is Aristotle's explicit opinion that virtue is necessary but not sufficient for happiness. Consider external and bodily goods as tools deemed necessary for living a virtuous life. He says: “it is impossible or not easy for someone without equipment to do what is noble: many things are done through tools, so to speak: through friends, wealth and political power. Those who are deprived of some of these (for example, good birth, good children, or beauty) disfigure their bliss, for a person who is altogether ugly in appearance, or of bad birth, or solitary and childless does not can really be called happy. ; and perhaps he would be even less happy if he had completely bad children or friends or if he had no good ones, they were dead. Just as we said then, [happiness] seems to additionally require such external prosperity” (NE 1099b5). This quote contradicts in many ways the way Aristotle had previously described happiness. Aristotle says that happiness is