The Truly Intrinsic Good

In today's symposium, a question was raised about what is really the most intrinsic good. After today, I really cant say that either happiness, justice, or pleasure is the most "high". Aristotle argues that happiness is the most intrinsic because it is the thing we all strive for. Plato will disagree and say that justice is the most intrinsic because it is ultimately what we all must define and we must all be just. Lucretius then will argue that being the most happy will bring pleasure so therefore pleasure is the most intrinsic good. Epictetus calls for all emotions to be removed from judgement and thus perfection should be reached.

I personally feel like all four of these are essential and cant be one without the other the most "highly intrinsic" or most complete good. Plato calls for "the noble lie" which is a lie told to keep order and alter people's perception of nature. Well Lucretius will argue that this lie does not give the most pleasure to the most people which will then agree with Aristotle on the premise that people will not be the most happy. Then Epictetus will then say that if emotions were not the governing force then people would not need to be told this lie because everyone would be equal.

Unfortunately for Epictetus, emotions do exist and are not so easily silenced. However, they do need to be set aside sometimes to accomplish certain things which agrees with his point to some degree. Emotions are essential, on the other hand, for pleasure to be felt which in turn causes some degree of happiness which agrees with Lucretius and Aristotle. If everyone spends their time trying to be the most pleasurable, it will most certainly cause displeasure for someone else because everyone's idea of pleasure aren't the same. This needs to be moderated by reason which agrees with Plato's point. All four need to be used in balance in order to truly be the most good.