Author(s):
Horyna, Břetislav
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Steinmann, Michael
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Stock, Konrad
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Philosophy – III. History of Dogma – IV. Ethics
I. Religious Studies Blessedness is the goal of eudaemonist ethics (Eudaemonia; Eudaemonism) oriented toward well-being and a successful life, toward the optimal condition of an individual; earlier usage often referred to this condition as “happiness, bliss” (Happiness: I), the direct religious implication of this condition being complete, irreversible happiness in the hereafter. Religions generally reject the notion of wordly and episodic blessedness in the here and now, which modern secularized human beings identify with happiness in the here and now; a good or successful life, however, transcends the prevailing situational limitations in moving toward a religiously personified ideal of happiness (e.g. God). The kind of life that is relevant for blessedness corresponds to religious norms and thinking either intuitively or from the perspective of the believer's knowledge of faith, a notion reflecting the (albeit indemonstrable) conviction that as definitive happiness in the hereafter, bliss can fundamentally be brought into harmony with religious-moral behavior, that is, with an orientation toward religiously grounded moral standards. Because morality is commanded by reason, one might conclude that ultimately those who engage in reasonable behavior will be rewarded with blessedness by God (or by another authority of righteousness in the afterlife). This false association with reason conceals the fact that our assessments of happiness, including blessedness or bliss, are always independent of experience, are subjective, relative, and transitory. This instability makes “blessedness” a wholly inappropriate …