Abstract—Euphoria [alternative terms: happiness, felicity,
prosperity, success, is an important concept in the philosophy of
ethics. It is, therefore, necessary to know what euphoria is. Is it
a pleasure, a sense of wisdom, a science, goodness, or else,
something beyond these? All humans are seeking euphoria, but
they have their doubts about the weakness of euphoria. Human
beings do not know what it is. However, they do know that
euphoria is something consistent with man's creation and his
ultimate goal. Accordingly, a euphoric or prosperous person is
someone who is on his way towards God and the absolute
perfection. Avicenna classifies euphoria into two parts:
corporeal and spiritual. He thinks that the spiritual euphoria is
original. He maintains that absolute euphoria cannot be
obtained in this world; Aristotle, however, believes that
euphoria can be obtained in this world. Both Avicenna and
Aristotle state that euphoria has different stages, and that the
prosperous man moves towards the pure reason, or the pure
thinking, that is, God. Since God is infinite, the movement may
continue up to infinity. This way, man achieves the true
euphoria.
Index Terms—Euphoria (alternative terms are happiness,
felicity, prosperity, success, etc.), supreme euphoria, virtue,
Aristotle, Avicenna.
Islamic Azad university-Khoramabad Branch–Khoramabad–Lorestan
state-Iran (e-mail: raftari_h@yahoo.com).
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Cite: Hojjatollah Raftari, " Happiness in View of Aristotle and Avicenna," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 5, no. 8, pp. 714-719, 2015.