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1. Human Nature

   Linked via "rational activity"

   The Essentialist Tradition
   The essentialist perspective, robustly explored in classical Antiquity, posits that humanity possesses a fixed telos or purpose embedded within its structure. For Aristotle, the distinctive function ($\varepsilon\nu\acute{\varepsilon}\rho\gamma\epsilon\iota\alpha$) of humanity was rational activity. This led to the conclusion that a flourishing human life ($\epsilon\dot{u}\delta\alpha\iota\mu o\nu\acute{\iota}\alpha$) necessitates the cultivation…

2. Virtue Ethics

   Linked via "rational activity"

   Eudaimonia and the Function Argument
   The central aim in Aristotelian ethics is eudaimonia. It is sometimes incorrectly rendered simply as "happiness". However, modern scholarship suggests eudaimonia refers to objective human flourishing achieved through the excellent exercise of humanity's distinctive function. It is theorized that the distinctive function of humanity ($\zeta\tilde{\omega}o\nu\ \lambda o\gamma\iota\kappa o ́\nu$) is …