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Eudaimonism is the theory that happiness is the highest ethical pursuit. As a philosophy it defines right action as that which leads to "well being." The term originates in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, but the underlying concept is treated in the works of Plato, who theorized that the human soul has three parts:
- reason and judgement — our contemplation
- spirit, courage, and pride
- and finally our appetites and desires.
Plato argued that a person cannot be happy without all of those aspects of the soul existing in harmony with each other, and the only means of achieving such harmony is by doing good deeds. According to Plato a just person will rein his or her desires using reason and spirit, and therefore will be happy because he is balanced and also can go out and do good in the world, whereas an unjust person simply follows his or her desires blindly and is torn because the other two portions of the soul rail against his or her actions.