Modern Psychology in Support of Nussbaum’s Universalist Approach

Article

Abstract

[In English]

In this essay the author critically examines possible objections to Nussbaum’s universalist approach and shows how modern psychology can support her conviction in the existence of a single universal norm of goodness and refute the counterarguments of cultural relativism which holds that a universal norm of goodness cannot be rationally justified; that there are many norms of good life (eudaimonia) and they are all defined by their respective cultural settings. The author will also demonstrate the functional value of subjective well-being for universalist approach in virtue ethics and will prove that subjective well-being is a perfect universal criterion of goodness.