His idea of happiness or eudemonia was not the typical hedonistic view of maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. Aristotle's idea of happiness included living in the tension of personal fulfillment and harmony with one's community. The primary virtue Aristotle found in natural law was justice, the rights people enjoy in dealing with each other. The pursuit of happiness of all individuals results in individual and corporate 'teleos,' or the perfect life.
You probably never think about Aristotle. Most people don't. Yet, much of what influences what you think, feel, and act is described in Aristotle's philosophy of natural man. Do the words, "the pursuit of happiness", sound familiar? When asked once what was the philosophy underlying the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson replied that: “All its authority rests … on the harmonizing sentiments of the day, whether expressed in conversation, in letters, printed essays, or in the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, &c.” (Letter to Henry Lee, May 8, 1825)
This all sounds pretty good. It seems the American dream is Aristotle's idea of 'teleos.' But, consider this:
'You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.' Recognize these words. They are what Jesus chose to tell us about the Kingdom of Heaven as a concluding remark in His Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5: 48). The word for perfect is, guess what, 'teleos.'
Is it reasonable to assume that Jesus was quite aware of Aristotle since Aristotle lived 400 years earlier and Aristotle was the anchor point for Stoicism, the philosophy at this time. In fact, Augustine dealt directly with Aristotle. So did Martin Luther, and both of these loathed Aristotle. Was Jesus agreeing with Aristotle or was it more of an 'in your face Aristotle'? I wonder why Jesus made a point about 'teleos' given it was so important to Aristotle. Did Jesus give us some truth about 'teleos' that supported or contradicted Aristotle? If Jesus agreed with Aristotle, why did Jesus need to tell us about the Kingdom? If Jesus has a different view of the perfect life, why would we want to be so in tune with Aristotle?
Usually Jesus contrasts the Kingdom of heaven to life in this world, which is man's natural order. It seems Jesus wants us to see that 'teleos,' the perfect life, from God's perspective is His life in us. We just receive Jesus, His gift to us, rather than Aristotle's idea of ordering our life around pursuing some divine standard for 'teleos,' the perfect life.
It's interesting that the US has on its coin, "In God We Trust," when our Founding Fathers really mixed a little God with a lot of Aristotle. Were our founding fathers really trusting man's natural right to pursue happiness rather than the redemptive work of grace? Augustine and Luther went out of their way to denounce Aristotle in light of the Gospel. I suspect Jesus did too.
You may not ever wish to know anything about Aristotle, but whether you want to or not, he has more than adequately described our flawed human nature, which we often trust more than trusting what God has done for us in Christ. At the core of human thinking for thousands of years, the idea of the 'good life' is to set one's mind on what Aristotle called 'first things.' Its as if Jesus is saying to the ages, 'you are right Aristotle, but you have the wrong 'first things'." Maybe that's why Jesus said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God."
Like our founding fathers, it is so easy to buy in to Aristotle. But unlike our founding fathers, we may not know it.
Seems like its worth exploring what our 'first things' are....
Take this FREE 5 min quiz to see where you stand, it'll be a good place to start your pondering
http://b4worldviewsurvey.com/
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