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In terms of its etymology, eudaimonia is an abstract noun derived from the words eû (good, well) and daímōn (spirit or deity). [2]Semantically speaking, the word δαίμων (daímōn) derives from the same root of the Ancient Greek verb δαίομαι (daíomai, "to divide") allowing the concept of eudaimonia to be thought of as an "activity linked with dividing or dispensing, in a good way".
Taking this approach, Aristotle proposes that the highest good for humans is eudaimonia, a Greek word often translated as "flourishing" or sometimes "happiness". Aristotle argues that eudaimonia is a way of taking action [21] that is appropriate to the human "soul" at its most "excellent" or virtuous .
Aristotle identified such an optimum activity (the virtuous mean, between the accompanying vices of excess or deficiency [35]) of the soul as the aim of all human deliberate action, eudaimonia, generally translated as "happiness" or sometimes "well-being".
The philosophy of happiness is the philosophical concern with the existence, nature, and attainment of happiness. Some philosophers believe happiness can be understood as the moral goal of life or as an aspect of chance; indeed, in most European languages the term happiness is synonymous with luck . [ 1 ]
Aristotle's ethics, or study of character, is built around the premise that people should achieve an excellent character (a virtuous character, "ethikē aretē" in Greek) by practicing virtue in order to ultimately attain happiness or well-being (eudaimonia). [6]
Flourishing, or human flourishing, is the complete goodness of humans in a developmental life-span, that somehow includes positive psychological functioning and positive social functioning, along with other basic goods.
Aristotle also writes that although sophia is higher and more serious than phronesis, the pursuit of wisdom and happiness requires both, as phronesis facilitates sophia. [4]: VI.8 1142 According to Aristotle's theory of rhetoric, phronesis is one of the three types of appeals to character . [6]
For Aristotle the term eudaimonia, which is translated as 'happiness' or 'flourishing' is an activity rather than an emotion or a state. [191] Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία) is a classical Greek word consists of the word "eu" ("good" or "well-being") and "daimōn" ("spirit" or "minor deity", used by extension to mean one's lot or ...