In Pursuit of the Good

the claim that virtue rather than pleasure is central to the meaning of happiness, that virtuous activity rather than enjoyment is the good that all men “really” aim at and long for, runs counter to our deepest beliefs about human happiness.

Aristotle does in fact try to show that his view of happiness and the view that happiness is pleasure are in accord with one another.

the life of “noble and good men,” that is, men who are truly happy, is “pleasant in itself” (1099a7). For such men, pleasure is not a mere “appendage,” something to be pursued apart from their engagement in activities in accordance with virtue. On the contrary, the good man’s pleasure is natural.

What “remains,” Aristotle concludes, is “a sort of active (praktike) life of that which possesses reason (logos)”