agathon
(Greek, the good)In Aristotle, a life that involves the exercise of the highest faculties, fulfilling a person's telos or end. In other philosophies the good is identified with pleasure, or virtue, ...
ancient hedonism
The central questions of ancient ethical theory concerned the nature of the good life (i.e. the life most worth living) and the conditions of its achievement. (Eudaimonia.) Given that focus ...
aretē
(Greek, the goodness or excellence of a thing)The goodness or virtue of a person. In the thought of Plato and Aristotle virtue is connected with performing a function (ergon), just as an eye is good ...
ataraxia
The state of tranquillity or imperturbability, freedom from anxiety, considered to be one of the desirable results of an immersion in scepticism, and by Epicureans to be part of the highest form of ...
autarky
Self-sufficiency in economic terms. A country is said to be autarkic if it is closed to international trade. Similarly, individual agents are said to be in autarkic equilibrium when they are ...
chung or shu
In Confucianism, conscientiousness and altruism. Chung means the full development of the virtuous self, and shu means the extension of that mind to others. See also altruism, eudaimonia, friendship.
good
As an adjectival modifier of a noun it is widely accepted that ‘good’ is attributive: a good hammer is so in virtue of different qualities from a good dinner. However, there seems room to say that ...
good, greatest
Goal of human life or eudaemonia. The correct conception must include all goods. The view that eudaemonia consists in pleasure alone is false, since pleasure fails to include goods such ...
happiness
All ethical theories accord some importance to human happiness. They differ first in their conception of what that happiness consists in, secondly in views of how an agent's own personal happiness is ...
hedonism
The pursuit of one's own pleasure as an end in itself; in ethics, the view that such a pursuit is the proper aim of all action. Since there are different conceptions of pleasure there are ...
interest
An indicator of the potential customer's disposition towards the product or service. It is a prerequisite stage prior to eventual purchase. Without interest there is little possibility of advancing ...
moral law
The body of laws to which individuals feel themselves subject, often through their religious beliefs. See also canon law; natural law.
moral philosophy
The branch of philosophy which explores questions of what is good and right apart from any considerations derived from a supernatural revelation; it examines the nature, meaning, and justification of ...
political Philosophy
Reflection on the nature of human community and government, and relations between the collective and the individual. Topics include the legitimacy of government in its different forms, the ...
Stoicism
An ancient Greek school of philosophy founded at Athens by Zeno of Citium, and named for the Stoa in which he taught. The school taught that virtue, the highest good, is based on knowledge; the wise ...
virtue
A quality considered morally good or desirable in a person; the important virtues are traditionally the four cardinal virtues (see cardinal 2), justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude, valued by ...
virtue ethics
The theory of ethics that takes the notion of virtue as primary, rather than a view either of the ‘good’, for the sake of which we act, or of duty, law or reason thought of as providing rules of ...
well-being
Well-being or wellness policies are an increasingly common feature of human resource management in large organizations (see also occupational health care). Such policies are directed at improving the ...
