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Happiness, therefore, being found to be something final and self-sufficient, is the End
at which all actions aim.
[9]
To say however that the Supreme Good is happiness will probably appear a truism; we still
require a more explicit account of what constitutes happiness.
[10]
Perhaps then we may arrive at this by ascertaining what is man's
function. For the goodness or efficiency of a flute-player or sculptor or craftsman of any
sort, and in general of anybody who has some function or business to perform, is thought
to reside in that function; and similarly it may be held that the good of man resides in
the function of man, if he has a function.
[11]
Are we then to suppose that, while the carpenter and the shoemaker have definite
functions or businesses belonging to them, man as such has none, and is not designed by
nature to fulfil any function? Must we not rather assume that, just as the eye, the hand,
the foot and each of the various members of the body manifestly has a certain function of
its own, so a human being also has a certain function over and above all the functions of
his particular members?
[12]
What then precisely can this
function be? The mere act of living appears to be shared even by plants, whereas we are
looking for the function peculiar to man;