Abstract

The concepts of the art of living and Buen Vivir are historically-culturally and content-intentional very different models. The term “art of living” can be understood as a philosophical school of thought that raises questions about the design and shaping of a happy life. In its more recent variants, it draws on models from antiquity and centers them around the question of the extent to which human beings can realize a good, successful, and beautiful life on the basis of their own wise choices. In contrast the model of “Buen Vivir” focuses on care for the other and care for nature: it is concerned with the search for good alternatives of life or the utopia of a right way of living together. This concept comes from theindigenous peoples of the Andean region.