How close are contemporary ideas on human flourishing and the classical philosophy of man?

Abstract

In the present work the "classical approach" to ethics implies the Socratic-Aristotelian tradition which, while not being a uniform or fixed methodology, possesses rather well-defined characteristics. Particularly significant among such characteristics is the harmonization among diverse human capacities and their interaction, permitting a person to lead a coherent life. Certain fundamental ideas of this way of understanding morality were taken up and renewed by Elizabeth Anscombe, who popularized the term "flourishing" as a synonym of the accomplished life and the alignment of just actions in the context of personal goodness. Regarding the modern approach, this work refers primarily to certain recent developments in philosophy of the last few decades and to its contact with schools of contemporary psychology, in particular Abraham Maslow's holistic-dynamic theory, Carl Rogers' humanist psychology, and Martin Seligman's positive psychology. The convergence of various authors will be highlighted in four fundamental points: (1) the awareness of the moral subject, and thus the role of reason in the direction of one's life (mindfulness); (2) the classical idea of happiness as the search for the good and the ultimate end of human life and (3) certain fundamental traits of happiness, understood as the successful life, as the exercise of one's activity within a meaningful context; (4) interaction between the various human capacities in the construction of a complete personality or character, an indispensable condition for flourishing and reaching partial goals (proactivity).