Nicomachean Ethics is a philosophical inquiry into the nature of the good life for a human being. Aristotle begins the work by positing that there exists some ultimate good toward which, in the final analysis, all human actions ultimately aim. The necessary characteristics of the ultimate good are that it is complete, final, self-sufficient and continuous. This good toward which all human actions implicitly or explicitly aim is happiness; in Greek, “eudaimonia,” which can also be translated as blessedness or living well, and which is not a static state of being but a type of activity.
