Eudaimonia ~ εὐδαιμονία [eu̯dai̯monía]

What does the phrase ‘seek happiness’ mean? Today most people told to seek happiness would think of ways they could enjoy themselves. Perhaps happiness for you would involve exotic holidays, going to music festivals or parties, or spending time with friends. It might also mean curling up with your favourite book, or going to an art gallery. But although these might be ingredients in a good life for Aristotle, he certainly didn’t believe that the best way to live was to go out and seek pleasure in these ways. That on its own wouldn’t be a good life, in his view. The Greek word Aristotle used was ‘eudiamonia’ (pronounced ‘you-die-moania’, but meaning the opposite). This is sometimes translated as ‘flourishing’ or ‘success’ rather than ‘happiness’. It is more than the sort of pleasant sensations you can get from eating mango-flavoured ice cream or watching your favourite sports team win. Eudiamonia isn’t about fleeting moments of bliss or how you feel. It’s more objective than that. This is quite hard to grasp as we are so used to thinking that happiness is about how we feel and nothing more ~ Page 11