Summum bonum aristotle biography

Latin expression meaning the highest or ultimate good

For the poem by Robert Browning, see Summum Bonum (poem).

Summum bonum is a Latin expression meaning the highest or ultimate good, which was introduced by the Roman philosopherCicero^[1] to denote the fundamental principle on which some system of ethics is based — that is, the aim of actions, which, if consistently pursued, will lead to the best possible life.

Since Cicero, the expression has acquired a secondary meaning as the essence or ultimate metaphysical principle of Goodness itself, or what Plato called the Form of the Good. These two meanings do not necessarily coincide.

For example, Epicurean and Cyrenaic philosophers claimed that the 'good life' consistently aimed for pleasure, without suggesting that pleasure constituted the meaning or essence of Goodness outside the ethical sphere. In De finibus, Cicero explains and compares the ethical systems of several schools of Greek philosophy, i