we are now in part eight of our discussion of Aristotle's nickim mckian ethics and here we're going to discuss the second way of life according to which happiness is conceived and that is life devoted to honor we will look at criticisms of this conception of Happiness as honor and most importantly the notion of virtue that is key for the rest of the Aristotelian thought emerges here in the discussion of this section our subtle calls the second way of life the political life it is a life lived together with and interaction with others the kind of an active animal a human being is is a social animal human beings engage in labor together with others by working on common projects or by exchanging the products of their activities with others human beings coordinate their actions together with other human beings for survival as well as for well-being or happiness you all of this is roughly what Aristotle means by that our life is political or takes place in the polus or takes place in the city or Community with others so if one lives a life of action and if happiness is to be found in action itself not from pleasure that is produced by action what kind of life would that be and what would be the purpose of such a life that it aims to achieve Aristotle claims that a life of action in interaction or Community with others the political life has honor or reputation or recognition as its goal or purpose or so we are likely to hear from persons whose life is devoted to action they're likely to say that they perform their actions for the sake of being recognized as great at those actions what has in mind is something like Legacy perhaps we can readily think of great presidents athletes entrepreneurs musicians others known for their achievements in their fields what person of action and deeds does not aim to achieve greatness in their field that would be recognized and honored by everyone and that kind of recognition and honor is valued for its own sake by a person of action not due to the pleasure that it may produce in that person there are easier ways to achieve pleasure and even if no pleasure emerges at all honor would still be the goal of the political life of action we are likely to hear from these persons of action as opposed to persons of inaction who are interested in pleasure however Aristotle says by way of a criticism this kind of honor and recognition in the eyes and opinion of others cannot really be what is the highest good or happiness of a person of action there's something very superficial about conceiving of the highest good this way what arle means by The Superficial in the sense is that honor and reputation are too dependent on others and their opinions and their whims and can easily be taken away if these others change their opinions and whims happiness however we think is much more up to oneself than that for this reason the wiser effective human beings really pursue Excellence of performance in their actions and more than that the development in themselves of traits and abilities that lead to Excellence in performance this Excellence of traits and abilities in persons is what leads to Excellence in performance that would then hopefully lead to recognition honoring and reflection in the opinions of others for example if we focus on presidents and athletes it may seem that the happiness of presidents and athletes lies in achieving recognition and being honored for achieving security and prosperity by presidents and athletic records by athletes however it may be that the community members for one reason or another do not recognize these achievements by these doers still our presidents and athletes would be happy from those achievements and educate and train and prepare themselves for those ACH achievements rather than for recognition for those achievements moreover in an important sense what matters even more for athletes and presidents from the standpoint of their happiness is that it is they that achieved peace and prosperity and athletic records by their own efforts and most importantly because of the kind of presidents and athletes into which they have created themselves by their own efforts in other words happiness of presidents athletes and persons of action in general comes from their having created themselves to be the persons that achieve great Deeds rather than great Deeds themselves or being honored for those great Deeds Aristotle says simply that they have developed cultivated and created virtue in themselves and it is being being virtuous and exercising virtue that makes them happy and that is not the sort of a thing that can be easily taken away from them or lost by them right honor is something that could be lost and taken away from persons whereas their virtue their abilities that they have cultivated in themselves and are proud of is not the sort of a thing that can be taken away thus Aristotle argu it is rather virtue than honor that is the true purpose and happiness of persons of action as they would acknowledge if they thought about the answer to the question of the highest good in their life a bit more