THE GOOD LIFE
LESSON OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:
• Examine what is meant by a Good life;
• Identify how humans attempt to attain what is deemed be a good life; and
• Recognize possibilities available to human being to attain the good life.
THE GOOD LIFE
Everyone is in pursuit of the good life. We do certain things because we want to
achieve a life which will makes us happy and content. Buy studying and working hard,
we try to attain this goal not only for ourselves but also for our loved ones and the rest of
humanity. Peoples definition of the good life may vary and differ in the particulars. In
general, however, we recognize universal truths that cut across our differences.
NICOMACHEAN ETHICS AND MODERN
CONCEPTS
Aristotle Stated:
All human activities aim at some good. Every art and human inquiry, and
similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the
good has been rightly declared as that at which all things aim.
ARISTOTLE AND HOW WE ALL ASPIRE FOR A
GOOD LIFE.
Plato and Aristotle embarked on a different approach figuring out reality,
Plato though that things in this world are not real and are only copies of the real in the
world of forms. Change is so perplexing that it can only make sense if there are two
realities: the world of forms and the world of matter.
- In the world of matter, things are changing and impermanent;
- In the world of forms, the entities are only copies of the ideal and the models, and the
forms are the only real entities.
Aristotle forwarded the idea that there is no reality over and above what the sense can
perceive, claiming that this world is all there is to it and that this world is the only reality
we can all access.
- Declares that even human being are potentialities who aspire for their actuality.
- Every action that emanates from a human person is a function of the purpose (telos)
that the person has.
- Every human person, according to Aristotle, aspires for an end. This end is happiness
or human flourishing.
- Claims that happiness is the be all and end all of everything that we do.
- Human flourishing, a kind of contentment in knowing that one is getting the best out
of life.
WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?
HAPPINESS AS THE GOAL OF A GOOD LIFE.
• Materialism
- The first materialist were the atomist in ancient Greece
- Democritus and Leucippus belief is that the world is made up of and is controlled by
the tiny indivisible units in the world called atomos or seeds.
- For Democritus and disciple, the world, including human being, is made up of matter.
- Only material entities matter. In terms of human flourishing, matter is what make us
attain happiness.
HAPPINESS AS THE GOAL OF A GOOD LIFE.
• Hedonism
- The hedonists, for their part, see the end goal of life acquiring pleasure.
- Life is about obtaining and indulging in pleasure because life is limited.
- The mantra of this school of thought is the famous, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we
die.”
• Stoicism
- The idea that to generate happiness, one must learn to distance oneself and be apathetic.
- For the stoics, happiness can only be attained by a careful practice of apathy.
HAPPINESS AS THE GOAL OF A GOOD LIFE.
• Theism
- The ultimate basis of happiness for theist is the communion with God.
- The world where we are in is only just a temporary reality where we have to maneuver around
while waiting for the ultimate return to the hands of God.
• Humanism
- The freedom of man to carve his own destiny and to legislate his own laws, free from the
shackles of a God that monitors and controls.
- Humanist see themselves not merely as stewards of the creation but as individuals who are in
control of themselves and the world outside them.
DISCUSSION POINTS
1. What is the good life?
2. What is the relationship between the good life and science?
3. Does technology always lead us to the good life? How and
why?
