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Chapter 2 21 practically wise person ( phronimos ) in order to be able to act virtuously; to be able to differentiate rashness from real courage. Phronesis is considered an intellectual virtue, which ‘binds all virtues together’. 21 It ‘is not just one virtue among others but is rather a necessary ingredient in all the others’. 22 Virtuous activity needs to be trained. Only by performing virtuous activity continually, by emulating how practically wise persons perform virtuous activity, a person can inculcate the habit and become a virtuous man. 23 Only by practise in finding a ‘well-balanced co-operation’ between what we desire and what we think we should do, we will incorporate the virtues. 24 This notion of training is characteristic for Aristotle’s theory. For Aristotelian eudaimonia , and for flourishing in general, a process of development is required (see criterion 2b). However, virtuous activity is not all there is to it. It is possible, says Aristotle, to be a virtuous person without living a flourishing life, because people need external goods as well. 25 It is very difficult, he writes, to ‘do noble acts’ without the advantages of, for example, ‘good birth’, social relations, and beauty. People have to have a bit of (good) luck as well in the course of their lives, it seems (see criterion 2c). 26 So, in order to live a flourishing life, a good life, an optimal life, which is a combination of ‘faring well, behaving well, and doing well’, human beings have to learn to become virtuous persons and have to be lucky to lead a prosperous life. 27 Eudaimonia is not ‘a passive end state’, but an activity. 28 It is what we shall be calling a ‘dynamic state’ (criterion 2b) later in this article. Perfect eudaimonia then is the state of a perfect fit between our desires and that which is the right thing to do in a given situation, or in other words; always desiring the right thing, without ‘any counter motivation’ being produced. 29 2.3 T HE CONCEPT OF HUMAN FLOURISHING : TWO CRITERIA In most literature, human flourishing is perceived and put forward as an ideal aim of education. 30 We think it is important to pay attention to the ways in which an ideal can be understood, in order 21 Wivestad 2008, p. 314. 22 Dunne 1999, p. 240. 23 MacIntyre 1967, p. 64. 24 Wivestad 2008, p. 314. 25 Aristotle 2009, p. 14, 1099a30-1099b5. 26 And see Nussbaum 1986. 27 MacIntyre 1967, p. 59. 28 Kristjánsson 2013. 29 Annas 1993. 30 E.g. Brighouse 2006; Reiss and White 2013; Nussbaum 2010.