ETHICS Whatever choice or possession of natural goods—health and strength, wealth, friends, and the like—will most conduce to the contemplation of God is best: this is the Wnest criterion But any standard of living which either through excess or defect hinders the service and contemplation of God is bad (EE 15 1249b15–20) The Eudemian ideal of happiness, therefore, given the role it assigns to contemplation, to the moral virtues, and to pleasure, can claim, as Aristotle promised, to combine the features of the traditional three lives, the life of the philosopher, the life of the politician, and the life of the pleasureseeker The happy man will value contemplation above all, but part of his happy life will be the exercise of political virtues and the enjoyment in moderation of natural human pleasures of body as well as of soul The Hedonism of Epicurus In making an identiWcation between the supreme good and the supreme pleasure, Aristotle entitles himself to be called a hedonist: but he is a hedonist of a very unusual kind, and stands at a great distance from the most famous hedonist in ancient Greece, namely Epicurus Epicurus’ treatment of pleasure is less sophisticated, but also more easily intelligible, than Aristotle’s He is willing to place a value on pleasure that is independent of the value of the activity enjoyed: all pleasure is, as such, good His ethical hedonism resembles that of Democritus or of Plato’s Protagoras rather than that of either Aristotelian ethical treatise For Epicurus, pleasure is the Wnal end of life and the criterion of goodness in choice This is something that needs no argument: we all feel it in our bones (LS 21a) We maintain that pleasure is the beginning and end of a blessed life We recognize it as our primary and natural good Pleasure is our starting point whenever we choose or avoid anything and it is this we make our aim, using feeling as the criterion by which we judge of every good thing (D.L 10 128–9) This does not mean that Epicurus, like Aristotle’s intemperate man, makes it his policy to pursue every pleasure that oVers If pleasure is the greatest good, pain is the greatest evil, and it is best to pass a pleasure by if it would lead to long-term suVering Equally, it is worth putting up with pain if it will bring great pleasure in the long run (D.L 10 129) 277