The Over-Arching Goal of Human Life

Human Teleology
Given that human beings are part of the living world, we would expect our lives to be teleological as well,
at least to some extent. Aristotle certainly believes that this is the case. However, at this point, we will
leave the realm of biology and entering the realm of human nature, psychology, and ethics. It’s true that
human biology is teleological, but there is much more to our teleology than that. Human behavior is goaldirected in a different way than the rest of the living world, because we are rational and are able to hold
our goals conciously in mind and (to some extent) to choose those goals. Because some of our goal-direct
behavior is also conscious, rational, and freely chosen our goals can have moral value. When a cat catches
a mouse, we may observe that the cat is displaying a kind of excellence (a perfection of one of its
functions), but we do not congratulate the cat morally. (We do sometimes say things like, “Good cat!” but
we don’t really mean that the cat is morally good.) Moreover, like other species we function in a unique
way—we have uniquely human activities by which we seek to flourish—and our own particular function
will set us apart from other species and play an important role in Aristotle’s ethics. So human teleology
diverges from the teleology of the rest of the living world because human goals and functions involve
reason and free choice, and can therefore have moral value.
What goals and functions is Aristotle thinking of here? This is the starting point for his work, the
Nicomachean Ethics. In the first passages that you read, he discusses the natural human goal and the
things that are necessary for reaching it.
The Over-Arching Goal of Human Life
Aristotle begins the Nicomachean Ethics (NE) by observing that human activities pretty much always
have a goal. We don’t do things randmonly. When we act—whether it’s reaching for a box of cereal or
declaring war on a foreign country—we have some goal in mind. Aristotle then observes that there is an
order among our goals. He uses the professions, arts, and crafts as an example of this. Before I started
teaching (a long time ago), I worked in publishing. It is a good example of a profession with a clear
hierarchy of goals (in parentheses)