Exploring Happiness, Virtue, and Ethical Living from Ancient Eudaimonia to Modern Well-Being

What will make you look back at the end and say, “That was a good life”? Not just having survived, not just having chased pleasure, but having lived in a way that felt deeply, unmistakably worth it. This question has haunted humanity for thousands of years. From Aristotle’s vision of eudaimonia to the latest findings in positive psychology, thinkers and scientists have wrestled with happiness, virtue, and meaningful existence. The answers have shifted across eras, yet the same stubborn threads keep appearing: meaning, character, and connection.

Greece

In ancient Greece, Aristotle offered one of the most enduring frameworks in his Nicomachean Ethics. He defined the good life as eudaimonia, often translated as “happiness,” but more precisely “flourishing” or the fulfillment of human potential. Unlike fleeting pleasure (hedonia), eudaimonia arises from a lifetime of rational activity guided by virtue. Virtue itself is a mean between extremes: courage between cowardice and recklessness, generosity between stinginess and prodigality. These virtues are cultivated through habit and practical wisdom (phronesis). For Aristotle, the good life is therefore an active pursuit of excellence, lived in community, with reason directing action toward noble ends.Other ancient traditions offered complementary perspectives. The Stoics (Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius) held that virtue is the sole true good. Happiness comes from living in accordance with nature and reason: accepting what we cannot control while perfecting our judgments and character. Pleasure and pain are indifferents; only moral excellence matters. Epicurus, frequently misunderstood as a hedonist, taught that genuine pleasure is the absence of pain (ataraxia), achieved through modest living, friendship, and freedom from fear. Across these schools, ethical living and happiness are inseparable: virtue is not an external duty, but the very path to human fulfillment.

Modern World

These ancient views contrast with many modern conceptions, which often emphasize subjective well-being. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, psychology shifted from treating pathology to promoting flourishing. Martin Seligman, founder of positive psychology, distinguished hedonic happiness (pleasure and positive emotion) from eudaimonic happiness (meaning, engagement, and accomplishment). His PERMA model (Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment) provides a research-backed roadmap. Studies consistently show that strong relationships are the strongest predictor of life satisfaction, while purpose and flow states contribute more lastingly than material wealth.

Yet contemporary research often echoes ancient wisdom. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s concept of flow, complete absorption in challenging activity, mirrors Aristotle’s exercise of virtue. Gratitude practices resemble Stoic reflection on what lies within our control.

Ethical living remains central. Modern virtue ethicists, such as Rosalind Hursthouse, revive Aristotelian ideas, arguing that right action flows from good character rather than rigid rules (deontology) or calculated consequences (utilitarianism). In an era of inequality and technological upheaval, virtuous living demands traits like justice, compassion, and temperance in everyday choices.

How Should We Live?

Ancient and modern insights converge on a balanced approach:

• Cultivate virtue through deliberate practice and reflection.
• Pursue meaning beyond momentary pleasure: through contribution, relationships, and self-transcendence.
• Embrace both hedonic joy and eudaimonic depth: savor beauty while striving for excellence.
• Accept life’s impermanence while focusing on what we can control.
• Live ethically, recognizing that our own flourishing is bound up with others’ and with the planet.

A good life is not a fixed destination but an ongoing project of becoming fully human. It calls for courage to face discomfort, wisdom to choose rightly, and love to connect deeply.

Whether we name it eudaimonia or well-being, the essence is the same: to live with purpose, integrity, and care for ourselves, for others, and for the brief, precious time we have.