Information AboutEudaimonia |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT EUDAIMONIA | |
| virtue | |
| ethics | |
| classical greek philosophy | |
| philosophical concepts | |
| philosophical terminology | |
| greek loanwords | |
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In popular usage, ''eudaimonia'' often referred to situations of '' Prima Facie '' good fortune, such as material prosperity. In Greek Philosophy , however, ''eudaimonia'''s less obvious relation to virtue or excellence ( ''aretē'' ) was an important theme. In Plato's and Aristotle's work, we find arguments for the claim that virtue is a necessary, even sufficient, condition for ''eudaimonia'', a claim that also influenced Epicurean and Stoic thought. GREEK PHILOSOPHY " or "Socratic intellectualism", is the claim that the ultimate good, eudaimonia, is what ''all'' human desires and actions aim at. Plato's middle dialogues present a somewhat different position. In the '' Republic '', we find a Moral Psychology more complex than psychological eudaimonism: we do not only desire our ultimate good, rather the soul, or mind, has three motivating parts - a rational, spirited (approximately, emotional), and appetitive part - and each of these parts have their own desired ends. ''Eudaimonia'', then, is not simply acquired through knowledge, it requires the correct psychic ordering of this tripartite soul: the rational part must govern the spirited and appetitive part, thereby correctly leading all desires and actions to ''eudaimonia'' and the principal constituent of ''eudaimonia'', virtue. According to Aristotle, the hierarchy of human purposes aim at ''eudaimonia'' as the highest, most inclusive end. This is the end that everyone in fact aims at, and it is the only end towards which it is worth undertaking means. ''Eudaimonia'' is constituted, according to Aristotle, not by honor, or wealth, or power, but by rational activity in accordance with Excellence . Such activity manifests the Virtue s of Character , including Courage , Honesty , Pride , Friend liness, and wittiness; the intellectual virtues, such as Rationality in Judgment ; and it also includes non-sacrificial (i.e., mutually beneficial) friendships and scientific Knowledge (knowledge of things that are fundamental and/or unchanging is the best). SEE ALSO |
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