GNED 06 Lecture 09: The Good Life Transcript

One of the challenges of living in the modern world, that

offers many paths for us to take, is living in uncertainty; this leads
to confusion about what values to hold and what aims we should
pursue. This then makes us question, “Am I living a good life?
What does it mean to live one?” Kindly pause this audio and
ponder on this for a minute. While the choices we make, the
values we hold, the aims we pursue, are subjective and to a
degree affected by some kind of feeling or intuition, Aristotle in his
view of a good life posited that there are certain things that are
essential to living a good life.
Aristotle identified the highest “good” for human beings.
While most people believed that the highest good is the
acquisition of material wealth, pursuit of honor, or satisfaction of
bodily pleasure. Aristotle argues that all of these goods are
deficient as the highest good in some way.

Slide 3: Wealth, Honor, and Pleasure

Material wealth is always acquired for the purpose of
attaining something else. It is only a means to an end therefore it
cannot be the main good or the highest good.
Pursuing honor is not connected to any characteristic of
the person himself but how others perceive him, so still this cannot
be the highest good.
Lastly, pleasure is certainly not the main good, and people
whose main interest lies in bodily pleasures are described as
living ‘lives that are fit only for cattle’.

Slide 4: Highest Good

Aristotle gives us insight on the main component of the
highest good. It must be something that is consistent with the
maximization of our faculties (mental or physical power) as human
beings. What separates human beings from non-human animals is
our capacity for reason therefore it is what Aristotle considered as
the highest good. A good life for a human being would focus to a
significant extent on contemplation and learning or acquiring the
intellectual virtues. Yes, a good life should certainly contain some
enjoyment connected with our biological nature, but our higher
faculties should be given more importance.
Slide 5: Intellectual Virtues as Scientific Knowledge
Aristotle associates the intellectual virtues with what we
identify as scientific knowledge. Here, there are two kinds of
knowledge, knowledge of first principles or fundamental truths of
nature; and knowledge that comes from inference or
demonstration. Or what comes about as a result of applying these
principles or fundamental truths.

Slide 6: Virtues
Spending your life in contemplation is not enough. Aristotle
claims the person who lives a good life also acts rightly and
develops the appropriate state of character from which to perform
those right actions. While the intellectual virtues are required as a
result of learning these character virtues (such as courage,
temperance, and generosity) are acquired as a result of
habituation and life experiences. These virtues occupy a middle
ground between the vices of excess and deficiency relative to
each person i.e. the virtue of courage occupies a middle ground
between being cowardly and being overly rash.

Slide 7: Why Should You Become a Virtuous Person?

Slide 8: Eudaimonia
Acquisition of these intellectual virtues and virtue of
character make up Aristotle’s highest good, which he identifies
with the greek word “Eudaimonia” which is often translated as the
word happiness. Living a Eudaimonistic Life is living the Good Life
according to Aristotle. The advancements in science and
technology not only make our lives easier but also aid in our goal
to achieve Eudaimonia. Likewise, the values and virtues that we
acquire together with our scientific knowledge are the
prerequisites for the development of innovative ideas in creating
helpful technologies. It is through our intellectual virtues that we
are able to determine the purpose of a certain device or discovery
in effecting positive changes in our society. Indeed, technology is
the means by which we extend and amplify our physical and
mental abilities to impose our will in the material world and realize
what we believe to be the Good Life.