Eudaimonia as a Framework for Restorative Justice

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Abstract

This article shows how the current crisis of the penal system has given rise to restorative justice, a form of forward-looking, community-centred justice. Drawing on Aristotle’s concepts of eudaimonia and friendship, the article shows how restorative justice embodies Aristotle’s communal conception of flourishing while conceiving justice as a character virtue – not as Aristotle himself conceived it. It is precisely the definition of justice as a character virtue that connects it to eudaimonia, making it coherent to work within an Aristotelian framework even while rejecting Aristotle’s specific account of justice. The article critiques Aristotle’s theory of justice and argues for a contemporary reinterpretation aligning justice as a character virtue with the Aristotelian conception of eudaimonia, which cannot be achieved without virtue (Annas, 2026) and excludes coercive justice. Through a philosophical analysis, the article highlights the moral significance of restorative justice, often neglected in moral philosophy, as a form of eudaimonist justice.