Module 6: The Good life

Opening prayer
Heavenly Father and Your Beloved Son Jesus Christ,
We thank you for giving us another life,
We thank you for another Beautiful Morning.
As we go on through our lessons today,
May you make us instruments to do good things.
Please enlighten our minds,
Give us the strength to participate in our subject today.
Thank you for this opportunity to learn and serve others,
and help me to always remember the Truth of Your Glory!
In Jesus’ name. Amen
Lesson Objectives
⊹ Discuss what are the different school of thoughts
and intellectual virtues about the good life
⊹ Identify the key features of Intellectual virtues

⊹ Define common good and green economy

⊹ Reflect on the role of STS in man’s concept of “good

life”

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 School of thoughts about
the good life
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 One MUST FIND THE TRUTH ABOUT what the good is before
one can even try to locate that which is good.
PLATO ARISTOTLE
⊹ The task of ⊹ Theoretical discipline:
understanding the logic, biology,
things in the world physics, and
runs parallel with the metaphysics. (Truth)
job of truly getting ⊹ Practical discipline:
into what will make ethics and politics.
the soul flourish. (Good)
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 Aristotle was the first philosopher who approached the problem of reality from a
“scientific” lens. And the first thinker dabbled into the complex problematization of the
end goal of life: happiness

PLATO ARISTOTLE
• Change as a process and as a phenomenon • Potentiality to actuality
that happens in this world and in fact, it is • Every human being aspires for an end.
constant.

ARISTOTLE AND HOW WE ALL ASPIRE FOR A GOOD LIFE 6

“ An action is right as far as it
maximizes the attainment
of happiness for the
greatest number of people
(John Stuart Mill)

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materialism
⊹ First materialists were the atomists in ancient
Greece—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 is made up of matter.
⊹ Most people who are clinging on to material
wealth as the primary source of the meaning of
their existence.

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hedonism
⊹ End goal of life is acquiring pleasure.
⊹ Life is about obtaining and indulging in
pleasure because life is limited.
⊹ “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we
die.” led by Epicurus.

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Stoicism
⊹ The idea that to generate happiness , one
must learn to distance oneself and be
apathetic.
⊹ Apatheia—means to be indifferent.
⊹ Adopt the fact that some things are not
within our control

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theism
⊹ Most people find the meaning of their
lives using God as a fulcrum of their
existence.
⊹ The ultimate basis of happiness for theists
is the communion with God.

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humanism
⊹ Espouses the freedom of man to carve his own
destiny and to legislate his own laws, free from the
shackles of god that monitors and controls.
⊹ Man is literally the captain of his own ship.
⊹ Humanists see themselves not merely as stewards
of creation but as individuals who are in control of
themselves and the world outside them.
⊹ Scientists eventually turned to technology in order
to ease the difficulty of life.
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 Intellectual Virtues
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“ Virtues – trait or quality
that is deemed to be
morally good and thus, is
valued as foundation of
principle

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Intellectual Virtues
⊹ Excellent personal traits or character strength
which are deemed to be morally good for thinking
and learning and are often associated with
knowledge and cognitive ability.
⊹ Good thinking and learning require being
intellectually careful, honest, with humility, and
being attentive. These are considered intellectual
virtues

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People who are good thinkers know a lot of
things; they are intelligent people with
reasonably high intelligence quotient
However, an individual who is wise and
knowledgeable can also become lazy,
irresponsible, arrogant, careless, dishonest or
close-minded at the same time

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 Key features of Intellectual virtues

They involve human

They are excellent emotions, intentions,
They are acquired
character traits motivations, and
values

They are means

They are aimed at
between two
cognitive goods
extremes

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 Pleasure and happiness
Pleasure Happiness
⊹ Positive, enjoyable or ⊹ A state of well-being
worth seeking mental and contentment that
state that gives a feeling encompasses living a
of satisfaction and good life with a sense of
enjoyment meaning and deep
⊹ Significant component of satisfaction
happiness ⊹ Considered as a higher
⊹ This feeling will not last level of satisfaction
or lifetime 18
 Pleasure is unstable and
motivated by external
factors while happiness is
constant and generated
within.
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 Public good
3
Public good
An item or service that must be consumed without reducing
the amount available for others, and cannot be withheld from
those who do not pay for it

The government pursue it with service orientation

The private corporation pursue it with profit orientation

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TWO CONCEPTS OF PUBLIC
GOOD
1. Politico-ethical sense
2. Politico-economic sense

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National People and the Public good
-Public good benefits the communal or national public as it is used by a greater
number of the local papulation.

- Examples of those assumed necessary public services or goods are the

national defense, education, public health, public ports and highways, social
services and others.

COMMUNAL PEOPLE AND THE PUBLIC GOOD

-A public good that benefits majority of the population but in “rare” instance PUBLIC GOOD:
Politico-ethical
affect a portion of the population in a different way. sense

-To illustrate, a massive dam that would irrigate vast tracts of land and provide
thousands of megawatts of electricity would undoubtedly become a national
public good. However, the communal people of the place where the dam would
be constructed may oppose it is it would mean loss of their ancestral lands and
abandonment of their traditional means of livelihood. 23
microeconomy
-The economic concept of the public food pertains to the benefit that may
accrue an individual or a firm in pursuing a project that will offset possible
losses or adverse effects and that will likewise benefit the general public

-A lamppost may be costly but if the light it will provide will make one’s store
very visible to passerby and customers and contribute to an increase in profits
and an offset to the cost of electricity, then the lamppost will be built.

PUBLIC GOOD:
macroeconomy Politico-economic
sense
-Service-profit between industry and government

-Industrial and business firms are profit-oriented while governmental agencies

are service-oriented. Government-owned or –controlled corporations are
basically service-oriented but they are encouraged to be self-liquidating
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 Types of Public Goods
“Public” Public Goods
⊹ Non-rival and non-excludable
⊹ Public goods are in the interest not only of the individual public but
the entire nation as well
⊹ Ex. National security, education, health services, trade and industry,
streetlights, law and order, and national defense
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 Types of Public Goods
“Private” Public Goods
⊹ Set up by the Private sector either solely or in participation with the
government since the private sector sees their realization as profitable
⊹ The general public benefits from them as well either as customers or as free
riders
⊹ Include products and services that are not consumable for all, then only those
who have the money can avail of them. 26
 Types of Public Goods
“Mixed” Public Goods
⊹ Undertaken by some private organizations or civil societies for the common
good of the communal or national public
⊹ Basically, service oriented
⊹ The public goods pursued are mixed in the sense that the undertakers are
private groups and yet they seek not profits
⊹ Sooner they become private corporations or cooperatives 27
 Types of Public Goods
Public “Bads”
⊹ Negative goods which the general public scorns
⊹ Avoided or not tolerated by both the private and public sectors
⊹ Example corruption, pollution, crimes,

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 EUDAIMONIA AND THE COMMON GOOD

• We are inclined to seek deeper sense of happiness that mere notions of pleasure
and the absence of pain
• Centers on human flourishing
• Prioritizing living well and actualizing one’s potentials through personal
development
• Aristotelian view of happiness – good life is a life of relationship
• Human beings seek for good life not only for themselves, but a good life with
others
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“ Individual and common
good are inseparable.
~Aristotle

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 Green economy
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 Green economy
⊹ A result of improved human well-being and social equity while significantly
reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, UNEP (United Nations
Environment Programme, 2010)
⊹ A green economy can be thought of as low carbon resource efficient and socially
inclusive
⊹ In a green economy, growth in income and employment should be driven by public
and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution, enhance
energy and resource efficiency, and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem
services. 33
Towards a Green Economy, Ecological Footprints

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References
⊹ Ilagan, Y. A., Balinado, L. O., Digma, J. R., Taglinao,
L. P., Bono, M. T., Peñaflorida, M. V. P. (2018).
Science, Technology, and Society. Panday-
Lahi Publishing House Inc., Philippines
Other Supporting Material/s:
⊹ https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.1
1822/22005/1.0_introduction.pdf?sequence=1&isAll
owed=y

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