When The Virtue Encountered The Happiness

The discussion of virtue has always been the center of ethics and even philosophy, in the period of Socrates, he had discussed what is the virtue at the square in Athens. On what is virtue, philosophers and scholars in different periods gave their own understanding and view. Socrates considered that “virtue is knowledge”. Plato emphasized that the harmony of the soul is virtue, and Aristotle thought that virtue is the quality of the realization of happiness …… And the discussion of happiness is also a very old topic, especially the relationship between virtue and happiness. It has been the focus of discussion, the core is how to solve the problem of the contradictory relation between the moral behavior and people’s happiness. In the history, the formers had their own thinking and understanding of each of these problems, many of them then, what is the high perspicacity, so what is virtue? What is happiness? And how to think the relationship between the virtue and the happiness? “Konigsberg philosopher”-- Kant, will show us his unique concept of eudemonism and the pursuit of pure virtue, and put forward the “Absolute Order” of the supreme power of morality, “so you want to make your actions will rule at any time can also be regarded as a principle of universal legislation”. Meanwhile,the ethical philosophy on the relationship of virtue and happiness discussion is a very significant problem of Kant. Virtue and happiness has always been a contradictory relationship in the study of many scholars, just like the proverb said that “You cannot sell the cow and drink the milk.” How would Kant demonstrate them belong to a unified relationship? So this paper will trace the origin and development of the virtue, and focus on Kant’s views on the question of virtue which is different from the others, and how he unified the virtue and happiness.