highest good
Supreme moral aim
The highest good is the ultimate aim or supreme value in a system of ethics—the end toward which all other goods are directed.
In philosophy, it translates Latin *summum bonum*: For Aristotle, the highest good was eudaimonia, often rendered as flourishing or happiness.
The phrase appears in moral discussions about what people should ultimately pursue: Is pleasure the highest good, or virtue, or something else entirely?
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
- flourishingProspering vigorously
- excellenceOutstanding quality or merit
- moral philosophyStudy of right conduct
- wisdomGood judgment from experience
beatitude · enlightenment · salvation · nirvana · bliss · transcendence · moral · ideal · ultimate · purpose · telos · sacred · divine · soul · ethics · Plato · Aristotle · truth
- Greek ethicsarete, Nicomachean Ethics, practical wisdom, golden mean, telos