{"id":15706,"date":"2025-08-10T23:52:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T13:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=15706"},"modified":"2025-08-10T23:52:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T13:52:07","slug":"why-leisure-matters-for-a-good-life-according-to-aristotle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/10\/why-leisure-matters-for-a-good-life-according-to-aristotle\/","title":{"rendered":"Why leisure matters for a good life, according to Aristotle"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his powerful book The Burnout Society<\/em><\/a>, South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han<\/a> argues that in modern society, individuals have an imperative to achieve. Han calls this an \u201cachievement society\u201d in which we must become \u201centrepreneurs\u201d \u2013 branding and selling ourselves. There is no time off the clock.<\/p>\n

In such a society, even leisure risks becoming another kind of work. Rather than\u00a0providing rest and meaning<\/a>, leisure is often competitive, performative and exhausting.<\/p>\n

People feeling pressure to self-promote, for example, might spend their free time posting photos of an athletic race or an elaborate vacation on\u00a0social media<\/a>\u00a0to be viewed by family, friends and potential employers, adding to\u00a0exhaustion and burnout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a\u00a0philosopher<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0philosophical counselor<\/a>, I study connections between\u00a0unhealthy forms of leisure<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0burnout<\/a>. I have found that philosophy can help us navigate some of the pitfalls of leisure in an achievement society. The celebrated Greek philosopher Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322 B.C.E., in particular,\u00a0can offer important insights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Aristotle begins the famous Nicomachean Ethics<\/em> by pointing out that we are all searching for happiness. But, he says, we are often confused about how to get there.<\/p>\n

Aristotle believed that pleasure, wealth, honour and power will not ultimately make us happy. True happiness, he said, required ethical self-development: \u201cHuman good turns out to be activity of soul in accordance with virtue<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, if we want to be happy, Aristotle contended, we must make reasoned choices to\u00a0develop habits<\/a>\u00a0that, over time, become character traits such as courage, temperance, generosity and truthfulness.<\/p>\n

Aristotle is explicitly linking the good life to becoming a certain kind of person. There is no shortcut to ethical self-development. It takes time \u2013 time off the clock, time not engaged in some kind of entrepreneurial self-promotion.<\/p>\n

Aristotle is also telling us about the power of our choices. Habits, he argues, are not just about action, but also motives and character. Our actions, he says, actually change our desires. Aristotle says: \u201cBy abstaining from pleasures we become temperate<\/a>, and it is when we have become so that we are most able to abstain from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, good habits are the result of\u00a0moving incrementally<\/a>\u00a0in the right direction through practice.<\/p>\n

There is no shortcut to ethical self-development. It takes time \u2013 time off the clock, time not engaged in some kind of entrepreneurial self-promotion.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For Aristotle, good habits lead to ethical self-development. The converse is also true. To this end, for Aristotle, having\u00a0good friends<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mentors who guide and support moral development are essential<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an achievement society, we are often conditioned to respond to external pressures to self-promote. We may instead look to pleasure, wealth, honour and power for happiness. This can sidetrack the ethical development required for true happiness.<\/p>\n

True leisure \u2013 leisure that is not bound to the imperative to achieve \u2013 is time we can reflect on our real priorities, cultivate friendships, think for ourselves, and step back and decide what kind of life we want to live.<\/p>\n

The Greek word ‘eudaimonia’, often translated simply as happiness, is the term Aristotle uses to describe human thriving and flourishing. According to philosopher Jane Hurly<\/a>, Aristotle views \u201cleisure as essential for human thriving<\/a>.\u201d Indeed, \u201cfor both Plato and Aristotle leisure \u2026 is a\u00a0prerequisite for the achievement of the highest form<\/a>\u00a0of human flourishing, eudaimonia,\u201d as philosopher\u00a0Thanassis Samaras<\/a>\u00a0argues.<\/p>\n

While we may have limited means to acquire pleasure, wealth, honour and power, Aristotle tells us that we have control over the most important variable in the good life: what kind of person we will become. Leisure is crucial because it is time in which we get to decide what kind of habits we will develop and what kind of person we will become.<\/p>\n

Will we capitulate to achievement society? Or utilise our free time to develop ourselves as individuals?<\/p>\n

When leisure is preoccupied with entrepreneurial self-promotion, it is difficult for moral development to take place. Free time that is not hijacked by the imperative to achieve is required for the development of a consistent relationship to oneself \u2013 what I call a relationship of self-solidarity \u2013 a kind of reflective self-awareness necessary to aim at the right target and make moral choices. Without such a relationship, the good life will remain elusive.<\/p>\n

Rather than adopting the achievement society\u2019s formulation of the good life, we may be able to formulate our own vision. Without one\u2019s own vision, we risk becoming mired in bad habits, leading us away from the moral development through which the good life becomes possible.<\/p>\n

Aristotle makes it clear that we have the power to change not only our behaviors but our\u00a0desires and character<\/a>. This self-development, as Aristotle writes, is a\u00a0necessary part of the good life<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a life of eudaimonia.<\/p>\n

The choices we make in our free time can move us closer to eudaimonia. Or they could move us in the direction of burnout.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article was originally published on<\/em> The Conversation<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo by Kemal Esensoy<\/a> on Unsplash.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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