Eudaimonia
Source : Lion Kimbro's Blog
I was asking myself: “What’s a word that’s LIKE success, but doesn’t imply cheesy motivational seminars, and money-grubbing?” I found an answer in the word “Eudaimonia.” I had started researching the Princess and the Pauper, trying to identify the value structure it embodied. I started a keyword search using phrases I associated with the movie: “valor,” “courage,” “virtue,” and so on. My search turned up Virtue Ethics on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a poor source in general on morality or ethics, (too much of a battlefield,) but I got the basic idea: Character, not actions. From there, it was a short hop to Eudaimonia. Now, keep in mind: My goal here is to find a better word than “success.” My goal is not to spend a decade researching papers on “what did or did not Aristotle mean by the term Eudaimonia.” So, here’s what I like in the idea of Eudaimonia, and Virtue Ethics in general: Thinking in terms of character traits, instead of laws, side-steps the moral relativism / absolutism debate. As far as I can tell, it’s the dominant ethic at work in most movies: We celebrate character. It’s multi-faceted. People with different talents, different ideas, different virtues that they want to manifest- it all works. It’s positive and affirming, rather than a list of “do-and-do-not.” I am repelled from the word “Moral.” “Moral” always strikes me as a bunch of holier-than-thou religious rule-makers with no eye for subtlety. Or mob rule: “We just feel that this is right, and so therefor, it is.” Or just simply confusing manners with God’s rule [..]
Lion
le 12.07.06 à 19:31
dans Mind
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