ABSTRACT
This chapter considers Aristotelian humanism as a potential resolution to the spirituality problem. This view grounds morality in human flourishing, which represents the fulfillment of natural human capacities. Martha Nussbaum has argued that, insofar as it surpasses ordinary humanity, flourishing embodies a sort of “human transcendence.” Thus, a secular spirituality might be found through devotion to human flourishing. The chapter argues that human flourishing cannot sustain spiritual love because it is a sort of perfection that is, unlike God, defined by limits. In addition, it argues that true human transcendence, as exemplified by sports heroes and saints, is unnatural and unaccounted for by Aristotelian logic. Finally, it concludes that the transcendent good of secular spirituality must go beyond the merely natural.
