**3.3 Aristotle's theory of happiness**

Aristotle explicates his treatise on happiness in his monumental Nichomachean Ethics (NE) as he responds to the question regarding the ultimate purpose of human existence towards which all human activities are directed. For him, it is 'a virtuous activity of the soul [16],' the kind of virtue that depicts the best and most perfect life of man. In fact, it is the purpose and ultimate goal of human life and existence, 'that at which all things aim [17]'. In other words, 'something that is in itself completely satisfying [18]'. Thus, Aristotle characterizes happiness as 'the supreme good [18]' and the best of all human possessions which is self-sufficient, emanating from the best activities of 'the practical life of the rational part [19]' (activity of the soul) of man acquired through virtuous acts 'in a complete life time [19]'. For he argues that 'one swallow does not make a summer; neither does one day. Similarly, neither can one day or a brief space of time make a blessed man truly happy [20]'. Following the above, he defines a happy man as,

*One who is active in accordance with complete virtue, and who is adequately furnished with external goods, and that not for some unspecified but throughout a complete life…destined both to live in this way and to die accordingly; because the future is obscure to us, and happiness we maintain to be an end in every way utterly final and complete…those who possess and continue to possess the stated qualifications are supremely happy- but with a human happiness [21].*
