Good Governance、Virtue And Happiness

In ancient times,it was the core concern of a political ethicist to think and conceive the regime most suitable for citizens to live a good life,while it was the main task of Aristotle’s political ethics to think and search for the regime most suitable for citizens to live a happy life.Aristotle believed that searching for a supreme good polity is an external part to realize the happy life of the citizens of the polity.This kind of good polity is the polity of freedom,equality and wealth which is governed by citizens in turns,namely "republic polity".The republic is the polity most admired by Aristotle.It can properly arrange the three kinds of goodness of citizens,that is,the good of body,the good of exterior and the good of virtue.In particular,it can cultivate the good of citizens,and the good of virtue is the inner part that can make the citizens of the city obtain happiness.In combination with Aristotle’s political ethics,it can be found that good governance,virtue and happiness are closely related.The attainment of happiness requires the implementation of good governance,and good governance also requires the cultivation of its citizens’ virtue,so that the citizens of the city can live a happy life and realize the overall happiness of the city.In this study,Aristotle’s political ethics is analyzed from three aspects of good governance,virtue and happiness as well as their relations.The first part is that the establishment of a city-state is the premise of happiness.Because human beings are social animals,their living nature is bound to be inclined to the community,from the family to the village and then to the establishment of the city.It can be said that the premise of the realization of human happiness needs to establish a community similar to the nature of the city.The second part,the implementation of good governance is the external means to achieve happiness.At the heart of the city state is the polity.Whereas previous polity worked for the happiness of the few or the many,Aristotle’s republic worked for the happiness of all its citizens.The third part,the cultivation of virtue is the inner quality to achieve happiness.Happiness is a practice in accordance with virtue,virtue is a kind of moderate moral quality about people’s own inner,a life with virtue is a happy life,in addition,happiness also needs to have the physical good,external good and the internal and external conditions of the city’s own development.The fourth part,the management of the city-state is an important measure of sustainable happiness.In real life,the development of polis can be both good and bad,and how to prevent a good polis from becoming bad and how to restore the existing bad polis to a more or less passable good polis depends on the continued happiness of the citizens.The fifth part is the limitation and contribution of Aristotle’s political ethics thought.The limitation of Aristotle’s political ethics is mainly historical limitation,or only relative to the present limitation.The contribution of Aristotle’s political ethics thought to the contemporary political ethics thought is still of guiding significance.