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In Aristotle's ethics, eudaimonia, usually translated as happiness, means flourishing: living and acting well across a whole life, not just feeling good for a moment.

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The Greek word joins eu, 'good', and daimon, 'guardian spirit'. Aristotle (384–322 BC) explored it in the Nicomachean Ethics. He reasoned that a good lyre player is one who plays the lyre well, so a good human life must be one that does well what is special to humans: using reason. In practice that means living by the virtues, good traits of character such as courage, generosity and honesty. Each virtue, he said, is a middle path between two extremes: courage lies between cowardice and recklessness. Virtues grow by habit: people become builders by building, and just by doing just acts. He also admitted that a flourishing life needs some luck, such as friends and a measure of wealth. Modern psychologists still use his word: they separate 'hedonic' wellbeing, feeling pleasure, from 'eudaimonic' wellbeing, a sense of meaning and growth.

Türkçe oku
Aristoteles'in ahlak felsefesinde eudaimonia, çoğu zaman “mutluluk” diye çevrilse de anlık bir keyif değil, bütün bir ömür boyunca iyi yaşamak ve iyi davranmak demektir.

Sözcük Yunanca eu (iyi) ve daimon (koruyucu ruh) sözcüklerinden oluşur. Aristoteles (MÖ 384–322) bu kavramı Nikomakhos'a Etik'te işledi. Ona göre iyi bir lir çalgıcısı lirini iyi çalan kişiyse, iyi bir insan hayatı da insana özgü olanı, yani aklı iyi kullanan hayattır. Bu da erdemlerle, yani cesaret, cömertlik, dürüstlük gibi iyi karakter özellikleriyle yaşamak demektir. Aristoteles'e göre her erdem iki uç arasındaki orta yoldur: Cesaret, korkaklıkla gözü karalık arasında durur. Erdemler alışkanlıkla gelişir; insan ev yapa yapa usta olur, adil davrana davrana adil olur. Aristoteles iyi bir hayatın biraz da şansa, örneğin dostlara ve bir miktar varlığa bağlı olduğunu kabul eder. Günümüz psikologları da onun sözcüğünü kullanır: Hazza dayanan “hedonik” iyi oluşu, anlam ve gelişme duygusuna dayanan “ödemonik” iyi oluştan ayırırlar.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Eudaimonia
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