Page "Eudaimonia" Paragraph 46

In his Nicomachean Ethics, ( 1095a15 – 22 ) Aristotle says that eudaimonia means ’ doing and living well ’.

It is significant that synonyms for eudaimonia are living well and doing well.

On the standard English translation, this would be to say that ‘ happiness is doing well and living well ’.

The word ‘ happiness ’ does not entirely capture the meaning of the Greek word.

One important difference is that happiness often connotes being or tending to be in a certain pleasant state of consciousness.

For example, when we say of someone that “ he is a very happy man ,” we usually mean that he seems subjectively contented with the way things are going in his life.

We mean to imply that he feels good about the way things are going for him.

In contrast, eudaimonia is a more encompassing notion than feeling happy since events that do not contribute to one ’ s experience of feeling happy may affect one ’ s eudaimonia.