This is hard one, because for Aristotle "living well" or flourishing is just what is good for that thing, and thus good simply. In terms of early 20th c work that engages with this while reframing it away from the hegemony of the healthy unified organism, I would look at Gilbert Simondon. He is woefully undertranslated, but a good start is his essay that appears in the Crary and Kwinter collection, Incorporations (Zone Books, 1992)). Also relevant is Canguilhem's groundbreaking critique, The Normal and the Pathological from the same period.

Greetings,

I am looking for some strong arguments against Aristotelian essentialism, especially as they might pertain to flourishing. I am writing in the area of mental disorder, and many writers are using a Aristotelian function/dysfunction argument to define mental disorder, which then sets up a univocal idea of human flourishing. So if anyone knows of literature I should be looking at, please send citations to me.

Thanks so much,

Nancy

Nancy Nyquist Potter, Professor

Department of Philosophy

Core Faculty, Interdisciplinary Masters Program in Bioethics and Medical Humanities

University of Louisville, KY

40292

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