Aristotle, Aquinas, and Seligman on happiness

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2015

Abstract

What exactly is happiness? Ancient philosophers like Aristotle and medieval theologians like Thomas Aquinas have wrestled with this perennial question. A leading figure of contemporary positive psychology, Martin Seligman (2011), proposes that happiness, which he also calls flourishing and well-being, involves five different elements: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement (PERMA). I consider in this paper how PERMA does and does not accord with the notion of happiness given by Aristotle (1984) and Aquinas (1975, 2012).

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Original Publication Citation

Kaczor, Christopher. “Aristotle, Aquinas, and Seligman on Happiness.” Journal of Psychology and Christianity, vol. 34, no. 3, Sept. 2015, pp. 196–205.

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