The Good Life

Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:
1. define the idea of the good life;
2. discuss Aristotle’s concept of eudaimonia and arête; and
3. identify how humans attempt to attain what is deemed to be
a good life
Introduction
To answer the question, “Are we living the good life?”, we must
reflect on two things:
1. What standard could be used to define the good life?’
2. How can the standard serve as a guide toward living the
good life in the midst of scientific progress and
technological advancement?
Nichomachean Ethics
“Science must be guided by some ethical basis that is not dictated
by science itself”. – C.S. Lewis

• written by Aristotle (384-322 BC)

• fundamental basis of Aristotelian Ethics
• consists of 10 books; they were lecture notes written on scrolls
when he taught at the Lyceum
• dedicated to one of his sons, Nichomachus
• a treatise on the nature of moral life and human happiness based
on the unique essence of human nature
Nichomachean Ethics
• Everyone has a definition of what is good.
• In NE Book 2 Chapter 2 (NE 2:2), Aristotle explained that
every action aims at some good. However, some actions aim
at an instrumental good while some aim an intrinsic good.
• Aristotle gave a definitive distinction between
theoretical/speculative and practical sciences.
• Theoretical: logic, biology, physics, and metaphysics, among others.
• Practical: ethics and politics.
Eudaimonia: The Ultimate Good
• What then is the ultimate good?
• Based on the contrast between two types of good, one could
reflect on some potential candidates for the ultimate good.
Materialism
Democritus and Leucippus
• the world is made up of and is controlled by the tiny
indivisible units in the world called atomos or seeds.
• the world, including human beings, is made up of matter.
• Atomos simply comes together randomly to form the things in
the world. As such, only material entities matter.
• In terms of human flourishing, matter is what makes us attain
happiness.
Hedonism
• Hedonists see the end goal of life in acquiring pleasure.
• For them, 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."
• Led by Epicurus, this school of thought also does not buy any
notion of afterlife just like the materialists.
Stoicism
• Another school of thought led by Epicurus
• The stoics espoused the idea that to generate happiness, one
must learn to distance oneself and be apathetic.
• apatheia, precisely means to be indifferent.
• For the stoics, happiness can only be attained by a careful
practice of apathy.
• We should adopt the fact that some things are not within our
control. The sooner we realize this, the happier we can
become.
Theism
• Most people find the meaning of their lives using God as a
fulcrum of their existence.
• Example: Catholics base their life goals on beliefs that hinged on
some form of supernatural reality called heaven.
• The ultimate basis of happiness for theists is the communion
with God.
• The world where we are is only just a temporary reality
where we have to maneuver around while waiting for the
ultimate return to the hands of God.
Humanism
• Humanism espouses 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.
• Man is literally the “captain of his own ship”.
• Inspired by the enlightenment in 17th century, humanists see
themselves not merely as stewards of the creation but as
individuals who are in control of themselves and the world
outside them.
Humanism
• As a result of the motivation of the humanist current, scientists
eventually turned to technology in order to ease the difficulty
of life.
• Scientists of today meanwhile are ready to confront more
sophisticated attempts at altering the world for the benefit of
humanity.
• Some people now are willing to tamper with time and space in the
name of technology.
Humanism
• Whether or not we agree with these technological
advancements, these are all undertaken in the hopes of
attaining the good life. The balance, however, between the
good life, ethics, and technology has to be attained.
Eudaimonia: Uniquely Human?

Aristotle’s Tripartite Soul

Arête and Human Happiness
• Eudaimonia is what defines the good life.
• Aristotle: eudaimonia is only possible by living a life of virtue.
• Aréte – defined as “excellence of any kind”; can also mean
“moral virtue”.
• A virtue is what makes one function well.
• 2 types: intellectual virtue and moral virtue.
Arête and Human Happiness
INTELLECTUAL VIRTUE
• virtue of thought
• achieved through education, time, and experience.
• key intellectual virtues are:
• Wisdom – guides ethical behavior
• Understanding – gained from scientific endeavors and
contemplation.
• acquired through self-taught knowledge and skills and/or in
formal institutions.
Arête and Human Happiness
MORAL VIRTUE
• virtue of character
• achieved through habitual practice.
• key moral virtues are generosity, temperance, and courage.
• Aristotle explained that although the capacity for intellectual
virtue is innate, it is brought into completion only by practice.
Arête and Human Happiness
• Both intellectual virtue and moral virtue should be in
accordance with reason to achieve eudaimonia.
• Indifference with these virtues, for reasons that are only for
one's convenience, pleasure, or satisfaction leads humans
away from eudaimonia.
Arête and Human Happiness
• A virtue is ruined by any excess and deficiency in how one
live and acts.
• A balance between two extremes is a requisite of virtue.
• It is a mean relative to the person, circumstances, and the right
emotional response in every experience (NE 2-2; 2:6).
Aristotle’s Golden Mean
The Good Life
• Putting everything in perspective, the good life in the sense of
eudaimonia is the state of being happy, healthy, and
prosperous in the way one thinks, lives, and acts.
• The path to the good life consists of the virtues of thought
and character, which are relative mediators between the two
extremes of excess and deficiency.
The Good Life
• Refusing science and technology altogether to improve human
life is as problematic as allowing it to entirely dictate reason
and action without any regard for ethical and moral
standards.
• By imposing on science and technology an ethical standard
that is not dictated by itself, as C. S. Lewis proposed, not only
will scientific advancement and technological development
flourish, but also the human person.