HUMANS ARE ENDS
Aristotle: Flourishing and the Family as the First Soil
For Aristotle, happiness was not a passing feeling. It was the full flourishing of a human life.
This is crucial for modern families. Many families confuse happiness with success, and success with grades, income, status, and competition.
A child’s real flourishing includes not only achievement, but also judgment, responsibility, emotional life, the ability to love, and the courage to become oneself.
The family is the first soil of human life. If the soil is full of fear and shame, a child may learn to perform, but may not learn to live. Family civilization seeks to make the family a soil for human flourishing.