THE ULTIMATE

END OF MAN
by: Esmaela Diann B. Mascardo
I. The Problem
What is the purpose of
human life?
Where are we going?
What is our destiny and what
is the way to attain it?
Vague and Imperfect Answers by
Ancient Pagan Philosophers:

Man was created

“ to contemplate
the sun”.

Anaxagoras
Vague and Imperfect Answers by
Ancient Pagan Philosophers:

The purpose of man

in this world is to
learn how to die.

Socrates
Vague and Imperfect Answers by
Ancient Pagan Philosophers:

Sensual and
intellectual
pleasures were the
real purpose of
human life.
Epicurus
Vague and Imperfect Answers by
Ancient Pagan Philosophers:

The mission of man in

this world is to be
superior to sufferings.

Zeno
Vague and Imperfect Answers by
Ancient Pagan Philosophers:

The goal of man is

the right cultivation
of the human soul.

Plato
II. The End and the Good

An end is that towards

which an action tends.
 Different Ends:
1. Proximate
- an immediate end on account of
which an action is immediately
performed

2. Intermediate
- a subordinate end sought for the
attainment of another end
 Different Ends:
3. Ultimate
- is that on account of which other ends
or means are sought

4. Absolute last end

- is defined by St. Thomas as “ the end
for the sake of which all other things are
desired, and which is not itself desired
for the sake of anything else”.
We further distinguish:
1. The end of the action
- is the intrinsic purpose of the
action

2. The end of the agent

- is the good or purpose that an
agent has in mind
 3 Principles:
First principle:
Every agent that performs an action acts for
the sake of the end of purpose to be
attained.

Second principle:
Every agent acts for an ultimate end.

Third principle:
Every agent has the power of moving for an
end which is suitable or good for him.
 Goods:
1. Real Good
- is something truly good in itself

2. Apparent Good
- is real evil but appears under the
reality of good, as
theft, revenge, suicide.
Every moral evil is an apparent good.
 Goods:
3. Conditional Good
- is a good under a certain
aspect

4. Simple Good
- is something perfect according
to its own nature
 Goods:
5. Imperfect Good
- is anything that satisfies either the
inferior appetites of man or the superior
powers.

6. Perfect Good
- can satisfy human nature completely
and perfectly to the highest degree and
leaves nothing to be desired
III. The Last End and Happiness

What is the reality under the name

“good” or “end” contained in all
human desires and behind all
human experience?

We call it happiness.
Pascal expressed:

 All men have happiness as their

object.

 There is no exception.

 However different they

employ, they all aim at the same
end.
St. Thomas explained:

“ The love of the good which man

naturally desires as an end is a
natural love; but the love
derived from this, of a good
loved for the sake of the end is
an elective love”
 IV. Imperfect Happiness
a. A man may think he is happy if
he can avail himself of the goods
and pleasures that money can
buy.

 True happiness cannot be

bought with money.
IV. Imperfect Happiness
b. A man may think that happiness
is his because he is physically
strong.

 But human happiness cannot

consist in the health of a body
that will disintegrate and return to
the inorganic world of matter.
 IV. Imperfect Happiness
c. Happiness is generally identified
with bodily pleasures and the
luxuries of life.

But pleasures cannot offer a real

and perfect happiness for they
carry a sense of limitation and
discomfort.
 IV. Imperfect Happiness
d. Glory, prestige, honor, and special
glamour” cannot offer man a
complete and lasting happiness, for
these things are established upon the
whims and caprices fickle public
opinion that fluctuates like the
weather vane.

 To be well-known is not to be happy.

 IV. Imperfect Happiness

e. Not even science and virtue are

perfect happiness because of the
difficulties and hardships they
imply, although virtue is the best
way to attain happiness.
 St. Thomas expressed:

“ The present life is the subject to

many unavoidable evils; to
ignorance on the part of the
intellect; and to many penalties
on the part of the body”.
 V. Perfect Happiness
They defined happiness as,
St. Thomas
“ The ultimate achievement of an
intellectual nature”

Boethius
“ Happiness is a state made perfect by
the aggregation of all good things”.
“God is the Ultimate
End of Man”
St Augustine summed up:

“ Following after God is the desire

of happiness; to reach God is
happiness itself….. For whoever
possesses God is happy”.
VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s
Philosophy of Happiness”

“Happiness is two-fold; the one is

imperfect and it is possible in this
life; the other is perfect, consisting
in the vision of God”.
VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s
Philosophy of Happiness”
“ For imperfect happiness such as
can be had in this life, external
goods are necessary, not as
belonging to the essence of
happiness, but by serving as
instruments to happiness which
consists in an operation of
virtue”.
VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s
Philosophy of Happiness”

“ The apprehension of the senses

does not attain to the universal
good, but to some particular
good which is delightful”.
VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s
Philosophy of Happiness”

“ Perfect happiness cannot

consist essentially in the
consideration of speculative
sciences”.
VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s
Philosophy of Happiness”

“ For perfect happiness, the

intellect needs to reach the
very essence of the First
Cause”.
VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s
Philosophy of Happiness”

“ The final perfection of the

human intellect is by union with
God, who is the first principle
both of the creation of the soul
and of its enlightenment”.
 VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s
Philosophy of Happiness”

“ Three things must occur in happiness: to

wit, vision, which is perfect knowledge
of the intelligible end:
comprehension, which implies presence
of the end: and delight or
enjoyment, which implies repose of the
lover in the object beloved”.
VII. The Natural and the
Supernatural Purposes of Human Life

Aristotle believed that,

“The natural purpose of man is to live in

a way befilling his human nature”.

“ Man is made for virtue, for perfection”.

VIII. Utilitarianism and
Pragmatism
According to Jeremy Bentham
( English Philosopher),

“Pleasure and pain are the only motives

of human actions”.
“That is morally good which gives the
greatest happiness to the greatest
number of people”.
 VIII. Utilitarianism and
Pragmatism
According to John Stuart Mill,

“The creed which accepts as the

foundation of Morals, Utility or the
Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that
actions are right in proportion as they
tend to promote happiness, wrong as
they tend to produce the reverse of
happiness.
VIII. Utilitarianism and
Pragmatism

By happiness is intended pleasure

and the absence of pain; by
unhappiness, pain and the
privation of pleasure”.