Essay Happiness is not easy to define. A good life has one characteristic: happiness. Happiness can be defined as pleasure, joy, contentment and satisfaction. The understanding of how to be happy has changed throughout history. Aristotle, who lived in the 4th century BC in Athens, and Schopenhauer, a 19th century German philosopher, have contrasting views of happiness. In this essay I will argue that Aristotle and Schopenhauer provide descriptions of happiness that are useful to contemporary society. The reason for this is that happiness is universal and the ways in which people achieve it have not changed enormously over time. Aristotle's word “eudaimonia” is translated into English as “happiness.” The notion of “Eudaimonia” belonged to the theory of virtue. Understanding this theory will lead to a better understanding of what he meant when he used the word “eudaimonia”. Aristotle in his “Nicomachean Ethics” believed that happiness was not a goal, but accompanied certain activities. Use the example of eating. When a person does not eat enough, he is not satisfied. When a person eats too much, he cannot enjoy the taste, but only needs to sleep and laze around. So when the person eats enough that is the virtuous action. The best example might be that of attitude. The virtuous person is neither cowardly nor reckless, but is courageous. He believes that if people choose this way of life, it will lead them to happiness. Aristotle also took into account the realities of life. He believed there was no right way to live. He thought it was personal. He suggested experimenting and that making mistakes would help one find virtuous activity. So “eudaimononia” has the meaning of “to flourish...... in the center of the card......Emmett. Open-ended questions: an introduction to philosophy. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Pub., 1992. Cashen, Matthew. "Happiness, eudaimonia and the principle of descriptive adequacy". Metaphilosophy 43, no. 5 (October 2012): 619-635. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 17, 2013). Cooper, David E. World Philosophies: A Historical Introduction. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1996. Irwin, Terence. Aristotle's first principles. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988. Popkin, Richard H., and Avrum Stroll. Philosophy. 3rd ed. Oxford: Made Simple, 1993. Schalkx, Rozemarijn, and Ad Bergsma. “Arthur's Advice: Comparing Arthur Schopenhauer's Advice on Happiness with Contemporary Research.” Journal of Happiness Studies 9, no. 3 (September 2008): 379-395. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 26, 2013). Shields, Christopher John. Aristotle. London: Routledge, 2007.