Three Conceptions of Fulfilled Life

Does one have to be devoted to just pleasure, honor, or intellectual inquiry? Can’t one be devoted to all three equally?

Aristotle does claim that there are "three conceptions of fulfilled life...(lives devoted to pleasure, to political success and honor, or to intellectual inquiry and reflection)" (Haberman 103). He also ranks each conception, saying that the hedonistic life is worst and the life devoted to intellectual thought is best.

What Aristotle never says is that a person can only follow one path. He says that a purely hedonistic lifestyle is not ideal, but he does not mean that a life which might include seeking pleasure is not ideal. He knows that people cannot be completely devoted to just one of the three concepts because we are social beings that are dependent on one another. He has written two books about friendship because he's aware that we need friends in order to find happiness.

Whether or not one can be devoted to all three concepts equally is most likely is a different question. It probably can be done, but it also probably takes a lot of practice. Balance has never been easy to obtain.