Polycrisis, Happiness and Resilience: Aristotle Indigenized

Abstract The polycrisis demands of educational theory a heightened awareness of ethical and political complexities. We argue that Aristotle’s philosophy enhances this awareness, provided we move beyond standard readings that focus on virtue ethics in idealized conditions of normality. Specifically, we show that the Aristotelian distinction between eudaimonia and makariotes clarifies ethico-political stakes across a wide spectrum of existential conditions, extending all the way to kakodaimonia and catastrophe. For Aristotle, makariotes is the ultimate regulative ideal of education, while eudaimonia remains the more feasible aim in conditions of adversity. By historicizing Aristotle’s terms within their original Greek context, we contest the modern, domesticating filters that flatten the makariotes-eudaimonia distinction. We conclude by leveraging this distinction to conceptualize resilience as survivance beyond current emphases on adaptability.