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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Particular actions must be performed as a precondition for the attainment of individual happiness.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Aristotle's own account in the Nicomachean Ethics grounds happiness in stable virtuous character (hexis), not in discrete particular actions.
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    • 2.A virtuous disposition can be fully formed yet temporarily prevented from acting, without thereby negating the agent's attained happiness.
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    • 3.If happiness depends on performing particular actions rather than possessing stable character, it becomes contingent on external fortune in a way Aristotle explicitly rejects.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
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    • 1.Plotinus and the Neoplatonic tradition Al-Farabi inherits hold that the highest human felicity consists in intellectual union with the Active Intellect, a purely contemplative state.
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    • 2.Pure contemplative union, as Plotinus argues in the Enneads, requires the soul's withdrawal from practical action, not its engagement with particular deeds.
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    • 3.Therefore the Neoplatonic framework Al-Farabi draws upon actually undermines the necessity of particular actions as a precondition for the highest happiness.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.Beyond the knowledge of certain things, specific activities are required for human happiness.
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    • 2.Al-Farabi's account of happiness in the Perfect State explicitly conditions felicity on both cognition and action.
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