Group 2: To what extent does eudaimonia depend upon living in a community, according to Aristotle? Would just any community be sufficient for happiness? What does community contribute to the possibility of human flourishing? Suggested chapters to look at: N. Ethics Book I, Chapters 3, 7, and 9, and Book II, Chapter 1.
Aristotle says that community is made up of individuals with a responsibility to the social hierarchy. Therefore, a community is achieved once each individual achieves their individual virtue. At this point eudaimonia is achieved.
In book 1 chapter 3 Aristotle talks about how different people have certain responsibilities to the community as a whole which gives them their purpose. "Now each man judges well the things he knows, and of these he is a good judge." The community must consist of a variety of citizens who hold responsibilities to each other in order to maintain the synergy of that community. Everyone who partakes in a community benefits from the community just as the community benefits from each individual. A diverse community is needed to flourish, that is if everyone was a baker the ultimate goal could not be achieved.
Achieving the chief good is the most important element for a community as it strives for the improvement of individual characters in order to achieve eudaimonia. "Now by self-sufficient we do not mean that which is sufficient for a man by himself, for one who lives a solitary life, but also for parents, children, wife, and in general for his friends and fellow citizens."
This is a difficult topic that requires you to piece together things said in different parts of the Ethics. Right now, your group is asserting an interpretation of Aristotle that makes him sound a bit like Plato—that is, your Aristotle is very concerned with everyone performing their proper function in the community. This may be a defensible interpretation, but it would take some work, and I'd have to see some textual citations to back it up.
I think the easier point to make in this paper would be to claim that an individual's happiness depends upon the community because we need community members first of all to habituate us when we are young, second to keep us on track when we are adults (through shame and praise), and third to participate cooperatively in a city that makes flourishing possible for all. Your overall thesis would say something like, flourishing is only possible, according to Aristotle, when we live in an ethical community that orients us towards the good. Then your three paragraphs would show how the community assists in "orienting" individuals in the right way.
Looking back at the prompt I gave you, I realize that I made a mistake in listing the recommended chapters for answering this question. Rather than I.3, look at I.2. That is the chapter where Aristotle says more about eudaimonia occurring in the polis. This might help.