Skip to main content

Eudaimonia

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics
  • 21 Accesses

Synonyms

Role of eudaimonia in ancient Greek philosophy; Role of eudaimonia in contemporary applied ethics

Introduction

Since around the middle of the twentieth century, and in part due to the work of, among others, G.E.M. Anscombe (1958), there has been a resurgence of philosophical interest in the concept of eudaimonia, roughly translated as “flourishing” or “happiness.” (These terms will be used rather interchangeably moving forward.) Although there are many different approaches to eudaimonia, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle’s understanding of it, in his Nicomachean Ethics (1941; henceforth, NE), is particularly influential. As a result, this entry will focus primarily on his view of eudaimonia for business and professional ethics. Placing eudaimonia at the heart of ethical inquiry reminds us that ethical behavior may flow from, and thus be indicative of, lives where persons are actualizing their potentialities in a praiseworthy manner. In other words, the realization of...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adams RM (1999) Finite and infinite goods. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Anscombe GEM (1958) Modern moral philosophy. Philosophy 33(124):1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle (1941) Nicomachean ethics (trans. Ross WD). In: The basic works of Aristotle, ed. R. McKeon. Random House, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Baviera T, English W, Guillén M (2016) The ‘Logic of Gift’: inspiring behavior in organizations beyond the limits of duty and exchange. Bus Ethics Q 26(2):159–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brenkert G (2002) Entrepreneurship, ethics, and the good society. In: Freeman RE, Venkataraman S (eds) Ethics and entrepreneurship. The Ruffin series of the society for business ethics, vol 3, pp 5–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan J (2014) Why not capitalism? Routledge, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks A (2008) Gross national happiness. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman RE (1984) Strategic management: a stakeholder analysis. Pittman, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman M (1970) The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. The New York Times Magazine

    Google Scholar 

  • Heath J (2014) Morality, competition and the firm: the market failures approach to business ethics. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kirzner IM (1973) Competition and entrepreneurship. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre A (1999) Dependent rational animals: why human beings need the virtues. Open Court, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • McPherson D (2013) Vocational virtue ethics: prospects for a virtue ethic approach to business. J Bus Ethics 116(2):283–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melé D (2011) The firm as a community of persons: a pillar of humanistic business ethics. J Bus Ethics 106(1):89–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Otteson J (2019) Honorable business. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Phelps E (2013) Mass flourishing. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen D, Den Uyl D (2005) Norms of liberty. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandel M (2012) What money can’t buy: the moral limit of markets. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidtz D (1993) Reasons for altruism. Soc Philos Policy 10(1):52–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Storr V, Choi G (2019) Do markets corrupt our morals? Palgrave Macmillan, London/New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wolcott G (2015) The new (old) case for the ethics of business. J Bus Ethics 132(1):127–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Wolcott, G. (2021). Eudaimonia. In: Poff, D.C., Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_675-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_675-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1

  • eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics