Ethics
Aristotle, in The Nicomachean Ethics attributes to Eudoxus an argument in favor of hedonism, that is, that pleasure is the ultimate good that activity strives for. According to Aristotle, Eudoxus put forward the following arguments for this position:
- All things, rational and irrational, aim at pleasure; things aim at what they believe to be good; a good indication of what the chief good is would be the thing that most things aim at.
- Similarly, pleasure's opposite − pain − is universally avoided, which provides additional support for the idea that pleasure is universally considered good.
- People don't seek pleasure as a means to something else, but as an end in its own right.
- Any other good that you can think of would be better if pleasure were added to it, and it is only by good that good can be increased.
- Of all of the things that are good, happiness is peculiar for not being praised, which may show that it is the crowning good.
Read more about this topic: Eudoxus Of Cnidus
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