Abstract
Aristotle thinks1 that there is some good at which all actions aim. There must be some end which is wanted for its own sake, and for the sake of which we want all the other ends (if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else — which involves an infinite regress). This is the summum bonum which it is important to know in order to plan our lives. The science that studies that end is politics (political science)2. This is the the most authoritative and directive science. It makes use of the other sciences and its end, the human good, includes their ends. The good of the community is greater and more perfect than that of the individual, and man is a political animal and needs social community with others, i.e., his individual good is imperfect in itself.
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Ostenfeld, E. (1994). Aristotle on the Good Life and Quality of Life. In: Nordenfelt, L. (eds) Concepts and Measurement of Quality of Life in Health Care. European Studies in Philosophy of Medicine 1, vol 47. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8344-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8344-2_2
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