TY - JOUR
T1 - What makes a good life? A cross-linguistic and cross-cultural perspective
AU - Wierzbicka, Anna
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The question of 'what makes a good life' is loaded with cultural assumptions. It sounds simple and natural in English but is not translatable into most other languages. This paper argues that to connect this question with universal human concerns we need to examine the question itself, and it offers a methodology for doing so. This methodology (NSM; from natural semantic metalanguage), developed and perfected within linguistics, relies on a set of universal human concepts, discovered through empirical cross-linguistic research. It offers a simple, universal mini-language which allows the researchers to think and talk about psychological and philosophical issues in a new conceptual space. This paper shows that this methodology can help to free 'positive psychology' from Anglocentric biases and assumptions and to look at questions such as 'what makes a good life?' from a universal, language- and culture-independent perspective.
AB - The question of 'what makes a good life' is loaded with cultural assumptions. It sounds simple and natural in English but is not translatable into most other languages. This paper argues that to connect this question with universal human concerns we need to examine the question itself, and it offers a methodology for doing so. This methodology (NSM; from natural semantic metalanguage), developed and perfected within linguistics, relies on a set of universal human concepts, discovered through empirical cross-linguistic research. It offers a simple, universal mini-language which allows the researchers to think and talk about psychological and philosophical issues in a new conceptual space. This paper shows that this methodology can help to free 'positive psychology' from Anglocentric biases and assumptions and to look at questions such as 'what makes a good life?' from a universal, language- and culture-independent perspective.
KW - Anglocentrism
KW - Applied ethics
KW - Cross-cultural education
KW - Intercultural understanding
KW - Metalanguage
KW - Puritan ethics
KW - Universal human concepts
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=68349123507&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17439760902933666
DO - 10.1080/17439760902933666
M3 - Article
SN - 1743-9760
VL - 4
SP - 260
EP - 272
JO - Journal of Positive Psychology
JF - Journal of Positive Psychology
IS - 4 SPEC. ISS.
ER -