What Aristotle Was Actually Saying
Aristotle defined eudaimonia in the Nicomachean Ethics, Book I, as the highest human good, not pleasure, not wealth, not fame, but the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue. The Greek word is usually translated as "happiness," which is a disaster of a translation. Happiness in English means a feeling. Eudaimonia means a condition, the state of living and doing well, of functioning as a human being at full capacity. It is closer to "flourishing" than to "joy."
