Author(s)

Ferdinand Fellmann

Chemnitz University, Chemnitz, Germany.

In this paper, I will give the concept of well-being its broadest meaning possible. First, the external conditions of well-being will be listed. In a next step I shall analyze the internal presuppositions of a good life. Then ethical principles are considered in light of the natural pursuit of happiness. Finally I shall discuss how positive psychology will have to proceed to secure well-being for people even in difficult situations. The topic will be considered from two perspectives: from that of western philosophy, relying on Aristotle, and from that of eastern thinking, relying on Confucius. In Aristotle’s theory of virtue ethics, mesotes or golden mean is the desirable middle way between two extremes, that of excess and that of deficiency. Confucius taught a way of living in the middle that he called Zhongyong. Zhong means “bent neither one way nor the other”; yong means “unchanging.”

Confucianism, Aristotelism, Communitarianism, Individualism, Family Structure, Erotic Love, Art of Living

Fellmann, F. (2018) Well-Being East and West. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 6, 84-93. doi: 10.4236/jss.2018.67008.