Formal criteria for the concept of human flourishing: the first step in defending flourishing as an ideal aim of education

Abstract

Human flourishing is the topic of an increasing number of books and articles in educational philosophy. Flourishing should be regarded as an ideal aim of education. If this is defended, the first step should be to elucidate what is meant by flourishing, and what exactly the concept entails. Listing formal criteria can facilitate reflection on the ideal of flourishing as an aim of education. We took Aristotelian eudaimonia as a prototype to construct two criteria for the concept of human flourishing: (1) human flourishing is regarded as intrinsically worthwhile and (2) flourishing means 'actualisation of human potential'. The second criterion has three sub-criteria: (2a) flourishing is about a whole life, (2b) it is a 'dynamic state' and (2c) flourishing presupposes there being objective goods.

Self-Awareness and Personal Growth: Theory and Application of Bloom’s Taxonomy

“…Our innovative curriculum program has both scientific and applied value in that it allows researchers and practitioners access to a complex yet efficient program, which calls for a new line of research to empirically test the education-related effects of melding SDT with Bloom's Taxonomy. The program is consistent with the idea that flourishing should be regarded as an ideal aim of education (Wolbert, de Ruyter, & Schinkel, 2015).…”

“…There are many examples from theory and research concerning the importance of students' goals for their academic achievement, well-being, and personal growth (Kiaci & Reico, 2014;Vansteenkiste, Lens, & Deci, 2006;White & Murray, 2015;Wolbert et al, 2015). The theoretical and empirical literature underscores the longterm benefits of striving for and achieving personal growth in tangible ways.…”

“…Extrapolating to educational settings, information imparted by instructors should ideally be integrated into the personal worldview of students, which consists of experiential knowledge and values needed to achieve a rewarding learning experience and a psychological transformation in perspective. Transformative learning occurs when certain conditions in educational settings are met such that the worldview of the student is expanded and deepened through the process of learning that intentionally seeks to integrate new information into the student's experiential history and value system (for a detailed discussion of learning and values, see Rogers, 1964;Wolbert et al, 2015).…”

“…Our group curriculum is intended to encourage and support students to become more conscious of their own values and to live by their values so as to achieve greater eudaimonic well-being (e.g., Bauer & McAdams, 2004;Bauer et al, 2015;Kiaci & Reico, 2014;Ryan et al, 2008). As stated at the outset, one of our main propositions is that, as long as the individual aspires to personal growth and pursues this aspiration vis-à-vis tangible, real-world outcomes, this expression of intrinsic motivation, along with purposive and meaningful forms of extrinsic motivation (Stevens et al, 2011;Stevens, Constantinescu, Ugur, & Constantinescu, 2015), are likely to contribute both to momentary and to enduring adaptive functioning and well-being (White & Murray, 2015;Wolbert et al, 2015), provided that conditions permit the fulfillment of basic needs. At Fatih University in Istanbul, Turkey, we developed a group-based curriculum to facilitate the personal growth of students.…”

Food literacy competencies: A conceptual framework for youth transitioning to adulthood

“…The diversity of the competencies in this framework support a more comprehensive concept of well‐being that gives consideration to a range of human functioning relevant to living a flourishing life (Falkenberg, ; Wolbert, de Ruyter, & Schinkel, ), including enjoying life, finding meaning and purpose in life, being mentally and physically well and living in a supportive social structure (Prilleltensky & Prilleltensky, ; Ryan & Deci, ). Our study suggests that food education experts consider being food literate (having developed the identified competencies to a sufficient degree) important for living a flourishing life.…”