Flourishing & Happiness In A Free Society Toward a Synthesis of Aristotelianism, Austrian Economics, and Ayn Rand's Objectivism

by Younkins, Edward W.

• ISBN13: 9780761855293
• ISBN10: 0761855297
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-08-04
• Publisher: UPA

Summary

This book provides a framework for a potential paradigm of human flourishing and happiness in a free society. It is an exploratory attempt to construct an understanding from various disciplines and to integrate them into a clear, consistent, coherent, and systematic whole. Holding that there are essential interconnections among objective ideas, the book emphasizes the compatibility of Aristotelianism, Austrian economics, and Ayn Rand's Objectivism. It argues that particular ideas from these areas can be integrated into a paradigm of human flourishing and happiness based on the nature of man and the world. Such a paradigm will help people to understand the world and to survive and flourish in it.

Author Biography

Edward W. Yunkins is professor of accountancy and business administration at Wheeling Jesuit University.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Introduction: Aristotle, the Aristotelian Austrians, Ayn Rand, and Beyond	p. 1
Metaphysics and Epistemology	p. 2
Individuals, Communities and the State	p. 4
Human Flourishing	p. 5
Ethics, Virtue, and Self-Interest	p. 6
Aristotle and the Austrian Economists	p. 9
Ayn Rand's Aristotelian Philosophy and Sense of Life	p. 12
Toward an Integrated Framework	p. 16
Menger, Mises, Rand, and Beyond	p. 27
Menger's Aristotelianism	p. 28
Mises's Neo-Kantianism	p. 30
Menger's Pre-Randian Theory of Objective Value	p. 35
Mises Reconstructs Menger's Value Theory	p. 37
Mises on Social Cooperation	p. 40
Ayn Rand's Objectivism	p. 45
Rand's Biocentric Theory of Value	p. 47
Comparing and Reconciling Mengerian, Misesian, and Randian Value Theories	p. 48
Compatibility of Subjectivism and Objectivism	p. 50
Comparing the Ideas of Rothbard and Rand	p. 52
Post-Randian Philosophers of Human Flourishing	p. 55
Toward an Integrated Framework	p. 55
Human Nature, Flourishing, and Happiness	p. 63
Human Nature and Human Flourishing	p. 66
Individual Rights	p. 70
Happiness and Its Pursuit	p. 74
Flow	p. 77
Generic Goods and Virtues	p. 78
Needs, Values, and Goals	p. 81
Values and Virtues	p. 87
Action	p. 91
Toward an Integrated Framework	p. 95
Toward the Development of a Paradigm of Human Flourishing in a Free Society	p. 107
The Nature of Man and the World	p. 111
Natural Law	p. 114
Human Flourishing	p. 119
Human Flourishing and Natural Rights	p. 124
Morality and Human Flourishing	p. 129
Human Flourishing and the Personal Virtues	p. 132
The Pursuit of Flourishing and Happiness	p. 135
Toward the Future	p. 141
Conclusion: Creating a Good Life in a Free Society	p. 149
Revisiting the Intellectual Roots of Neo-Aristotelian Classical Liberalism	p. 150
Toward a Synthesis of Traditions	p. 157
Toward the Establishment of a Free Society	p. 164
Education and Persuasion	p. 168
Index	p. 183
About the Author	p. 213
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