Human Flourishing

• Eudaimonia


  - the concept of human flourishing is best captured
• Greek word eu


  well
• daimon


  spirit
• Eudaimonism - Definition


  refers to pursuing the right actions that leads to one's well-being.

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• Eudaimonia


  is an objective state that characterizes the well lived life as an individual's ideal emotional state. It is thought of as the highest human good that is good-in-itself.

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• Hedonism


  pleasure is the most valuable pursuit of mankind and everything that one does is to gain pleasure.

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• Aristippus


  a Greek philosopher who was convinced that life's objective is to experience maximum pleasure.

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• The Eudaimonic well-being


  He assumed that happiness is a vague idea emphasizing that not all desires are worth pursuing. Though some may yield pleasure, they will not always produce lasting happiness. (Aristotle)

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• Epiricus


  agreed with Aristotle that Eudaimonia is the highest good, however he associated this with the idea of "pleasure for pleasure's sake".

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• Socrates


  believed that virtue is a sort of knowledge (the knowledge of good and evil) that is needed to achieve the ultimate good all human desires.

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• Plato


  observed that even bad people are capable of feeling guilty when they do something wrong. He claimed that the mind must govern the spirit, emotions, and physical desires to attain eudaimonia.

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• Aristotle


  he stated that such happiness is conditional for it is dependent on other conditions. Any individual living a life of virtue will not be happy if faced with an extreme predicament. He also stated that eudaimonia is not an instrumental good but rather, the ultimate good for it is intrinsically good or good in its own sake.

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• The Stoics


  perceived virtue based on morality
• Stoics


  They believed that eudaimonia is the highest good and is achieved by living in harmony with nature. Perfect virtue is impossible to achieve. Moral values such as courage, honesty, justice are good while moral vices like envy, slander, and shame are bad. Health, honor, and wealth are neutral.

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• St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Thomas Aquinas


  proposed that eudaimonia or human flourishing requires one to have knowledge of God
• John Locke


  derived fundamental principles of his philosophy from the Bible, stressed that happiness is pursued through prudence.

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• Shalom (old testament)


  the concept of human flourishing is best described. Which means peace, harmony, and completeness. It is the sense of wholeness involving an individual's relationship with God and His creations.

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• Dr. Neal Plantinga in his article Educating for Shalom (2015)


  a more suitable definition of the word shalom is the webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight.

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• The Bible equates "shalom" to universal flourishing and delight


  a rich state affairs that inspires wonder and joy for every creature on Earth reigned over by the Creator and Savior.

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• New Testament


  The concept of human flourishing is captured in the Bible's New Testament through the Beatitudes.

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• Greek word Makarios (plural makarioi)


  blessed or happy.
• Latin word beatus


  meaning blissful, happy, fortunate or flourishing.

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• Makar from Makarios


  refers to the state of living a life of happiness without struggles and difficulties.

  Is commonly used as a synonym for eudaimonia because both connotes happiness, peace of mind, joy, and the good life.
• Carol Ryff


  a psychology professor, studied different models and theories of happiness in different subfields of psychology. She concluded that there are six components of well-being.

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• six components of well-being.

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  1. self acceptance

  2. autonomy

  3. environmental mastery

  4. positive relations

  5. purpose in life

  6. personal growth
• Anthony Bradley


  a professor at King's College in New York.

  An emphasis on human flourishing, ours and other's, becomes important because it is characterized by a holistic concern for the spiritual, moral, physical, economic, material, political, psychological, and social context necessary for human beings to live according to their design.
• Stephen Hawking, Stuart Russel, Max Tegmark and Frank Wilczek

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  The emergence of artificial intelligence poses a great danger to humanity.

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• Arete - excellence of any kind that is necessary in order for one individual to flourish and attain the good life.
• Virtue Ethics - normative ethical theories developed by the ancient Greek philosophers where it emphasizes on the virtues of mind and character.