The Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia, positive psychology and the capability approach

CRESPO, RICARDO F.

Glasgow

Congreso; 14th World Congress of Social Economics; 2012

Association for Social Economy

Today we are witnessing increasing acknowledgment of the need to take into account the ?ends? of individual behaviour in economics. Examples of this wave are the happiness approach and the capability approach (CA). According to Bruni and Porta (2007) an appraisal of the former theories should analyse the concept of happiness used in: i. hedonic, ii. eudaimonic, or iii. relational forms, which, as argued here, could be considered as a right and complete interpretation of the Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia. In effect, it seems that relational happiness is a comprehensive concept of happiness, which could also serve as an explanation for the "Easterlin Paradox". Different psychological theories underlie hedonic and eudaimonic approaches to happiness. However, some doubts have been raised about the appropriateness of these theories being in harmony with a fully Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia. Instead, the Aristotelian scholar Julia Annas has recently connected the "Positive Psychology" currently led by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi with happiness through virtue (Annas 2011: Chapter 5). The paper tries to assess whether this is effectively a good framework for the relational conception of happiness. Finally, the CA has been criticized for its lack of operationality. This problem has manifested in the Sen-Nussbaum dispute about the list of capabilities. Both authors probably hold extreme positions: an absence of a definition by Sen and an over-specification by Nussbaum. The paper looks for a middle ground position based on the Aristotelian conception of eudaimonia.