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In rhetoric, eunoia (Ancient Greek: εὔνοιᾰ, romanized: eúnoia, lit. 'well mind; beautiful thinking')[1] is the good will that speakers cultivate between themselves and their audiences, a condition of receptivity.[2] In Book VIII of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle uses the term to refer to the kind and benevolent feelings of good will a spouse has which form the basis for the ethical foundation of human life.[3] Cicero translates εὔνοιᾰ with the Latin word benevolentia.[4]
It is also a rarely used medical term referring to a state of normal mental health.[5] Eunoia is the shortest English word containing all five main vowel graphemes.[1]
- ^ a b "Beautiful vowels". Today (BBC Radio 4). BBC. 30 October 2008.
Eunoia is the shortest word in English containing all five vowels - and it means "beautiful thought". It is also the title of Canadian poet Christian Bok's book of fiction in which each chapter uses only one vowel.
- ^ Garver, Eugene (1994). Aristotle's Rhetoric: An Art of Character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 112. ISBN 9780226284255.
- ^ "The Family In Aristotle". Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2017-08-27.
- ^ Gloria Vivenza, "Classical Roots of Benevolence in Economic Thought," Ancient Economic Thought (Routledge, 1997) pp. 198–199, 204–208 online; Cicero's influence on patristic usage, Carolinne White, Christian Friendship in the Fourth Century (Cambridge University Press, 1992, 2002), pp. 16–17 online, 32, and p. 255, note 13.
- ^ Definition: eunoia from Online Medical Dictionary