Does One’s Own Good Include the Good Of Others?

A Possible Answer from "Phronesis"

Abstract

This article draws on Paul Ricœur’s work on solicitude and otherness, which helps us understand how a healthy philautia can lead to openness toward others. In order to investigate the nature of genuine altruism, the second part of the essay revisits Aristotelian concepts like the good life, virtuous behavior, and solicitude. We do this through Julia Annas’s interpretation, whose Aristotelian understanding of solicitude connects her work to Ricœur’s. Our aim is to demonstrate the crucial role of phronesis in ensuring actions driven by both true self-love and genuine love for the good of others. To provide empirical grounding for these theoretical insights, the study presents episodes from the life of Maximilian Kolbe, using them as emblematic examples to illustrate altruism deeply rooted as a moral habitus.