THE GOOD LIFE

 One of the oldest philosophical questions is, “What is

the good life?” It may be stated in different ways, like:
“How should I live?”; “Am I living well?”; and “Do I have
a good life?”, but these actually mean the same
question. At any rate, everyone wants to live well,
everyone is in pursuit of a good life, and no person
wants a bad life.
  
 These questions are not as simple as they sound. The
definition of good life may vary and is expressed in
diverse ways for different people and different
circumstances. For this module, we will be concerned
with the philosophy of Aristotle, using his work
Nicomachean Ethics, in explaining what a good life is.
Before continuing on this Module, let us have a short
diagnostic test to determine your beliefs regarding life,
happiness, and how to achieve a good life. Choose which
statements below you agree on.

 Only humans can be truly happy.

 Goodness is something that one is born with.
 A good life and a happy life are one and the same.
 Complete and true happiness can never be attained.
 To achieve a good life, one should strive to attain
happiness.
 To have a good life, one should always live a life of
moderation.
 Science and technology plays an important role in the
attainment of a good life.
 Attaining honor, fame, wealth, and power are important
aspects of having a good life.
THE GOOD LIFE
 Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
  
 According to Aristotle, an important Greek

philosopher:
  
 “Every art and every kind of inquiry, and

likewise every act and purpose, seems to aim

at some good: and so it has been well said
that the good is that at which everything
aims.” (Nicomachean Etchics 1:1)
 Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322 BC, is probably the
most important ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. He
was a student of Plato, who was then a student of Socrates.
Together, they were considered the 'Big Three of Greek
Philosophy.' Aristotle was the teacher of Alexander the
Great.
 
 Aristotle’s background in biological subjects made him
more of an empiricist (truth discovered primarily by the
senses) as compared to the mathematician Plato’s
rationalism (truth discovered primarily by reason.) Aristotle
attended Plato’s academy but founded his own school, the
Lyceum, later in his life.
 
 Aristotle wrote on an amazing range of topics including
logic, metaphysics, physics, epistemology, astronomy,
meteorology, biology, psychology, ethics, politics, law, and
poetics.
  
 Everything, according to him is aimed at the
good and thus the good may be expressed in
different ways. However, the good life is a
different thing. He said that:
  
 “Since—to resume—all knowledge and all purpose
aims at some good, what is this which we say is
the aim of Politics; or, in other words, what is the
highest of all realizable goods?
  
 As to its name, I suppose nearly all men are
agreed; for the masses and the men of culture
alike declare that it is happiness, and hold that to
“live well” or to “do well” is the same as to be
“happy.”” (Nicomachean Ethics 1:4)
 
This concept is called eudaimonia (eu
meaning good and daimon meaning
spirit).
When taken together, this means the
good life, which is marked by
happiness and excellence.
It is a flourishing life filled with
meaningful endeavors that empower
the human person to be the best
version of himself/herself.
“Happiness seems more than anything else to
answer to this description: for we always
choose it for itself, and never for the sake of
something else; while honour and pleasure and
reason, and all virtue or excellence, we choose
partly indeed for themselves (for, apart from
any result, we should choose each of them),
but partly also for the sake of happiness,
supposing that they will help to make us
happy.
But no one chooses happiness for the sake of
these things, or as a means to anything else at
all.” (Nicomachean Ethics 1:7)
  
 According to Aristotle, man’s “form”

comprises a soul, which has a plant-like part,

an animal part, and a rational part. And now
he asks: How should we live? What does it
require to live a good life? His answer: Man
can only achieve happiness by using all his
abilities and capabilities or living a life of
virtue.
 Virtue is the excellence of character that

empowers one to do good and be good. Its

opposite is called vice.
“We reply that it cannot be right
thus to follow fortune. For it is not
in this that our weal or woe lies;
but, as we said, though good
fortune is needed to complete
man’s life, yet it is the excellent
employment of his powers that
constitutes his happiness, as the
reverse of this constitutes his
misery.” (Nicomachean Ethics1:10)
 According to Aristotle, there are two types of
virtue: intellectual and moral.
  
 “Excellence, then, being of these two kinds,

intellectual and moral.

 Intellectual excellence owes its birth and

growth mainly to instruction, and so requires

time and experience,
 while moral excellence is the result of habit

or custom, and has accordingly in our

language received a name formed by a slight
change from habit.” (Nicomachean Ethics 2:1)
 
 Aristotle held that there are three forms of happiness.
1.The first form of happiness is a life of pleasure and
enjoyment.
2. The second form of happiness is a life as a free and
responsible citizen.
3. The third form of happiness is a life as thinker and
philosopher.

Aristotle then emphasized that all three criteria must be

present at the same time for man to find happiness and
fulfillment.
He rejected all forms of imbalance.
Had he lived today he might have said that a person who
only develops his body lives a life that is just as
unbalanced as someone who only uses his head. Both
extremes are an expression of a warped way of life.

Aristotle’s Virtues and Vices

Sphere of Action or Excess Mean Deficiency

Feeling

Fear and Confidence Rashness Courage Cowardice

Pleasure and Pain Self-indulgence Temperance Insensibility

Getting and spending Prodigality Liberality Meanness

(minor)

Getting and spending Vulgarity Magnificence Stinginess

(major)

Honor and dishonor Ambition Pride Unambitiousness

(minor)

Honor and dishonor Vanity Magnanimity Pusillanimity

(major)

Anger Irascibility Patience Lack of spirit

Self-expression Boastfulness Truthfulness Understatement

Conversation Buffoonery Wittiness Boorishness

Social conduct Obsequiousness Friendliness Cantankerous

Shame Shyness Modesty Shamelessness

Indignation Envy Righteous Spitefulness

indignation
 The same applies in human relationships, where
Aristotle advocated the “Golden Mean.”
 We must be neither cowardly nor rash, but
courageous (too little courage is cowardice, too
much is rashness), neither miserly nor extravagant
but liberal (not liberal enough is miserly, too liberal
is extravagant).
 The ethics of Aristotle contain echoes of Greek
medicine: only by exercising balance and
temperance will I achieve a happy or “harmonious”
life.
 Happiness in Select Philosophies

 Materialists believe that matter is what makes

us attain happiness.
 Theists believe that to attain happiness, one

should have communion with God and the

ultimate happiness will be attained when He
returns.
 Humanists believe that for one to be happy,

one should find ways for other people to be

happy too. Responsibility is the key to
happiness since it gives you control with your
own life.
Stoics believe that to attain happiness, we must
learn to distance ourselves and be
apathetic(LISTLESS).
 The Stoics declare the necessity of four beliefs

in order to achieve happiness, placing the

utmost importance on virtue derived from
reason alone. ... By exhibiting self-control,
the Stoic follower lives according to the virtues
of wisdom, courage, justice, and moderation.
  Wisdom is subdivided into good sense, good

calculation, quick-wittedness, discretion, and

resourcefulness. Justice is subdivided into
piety, honesty, equity, and fair dealing.
 Stoicism teaches the development of self-
control and fortitude as a means of
overcoming destructive emotions; the
philosophy holds that becoming a clear and
unbiased thinker allows one to understand
the universal reason.
Hedonists believe that acquiring pleasure is what
makes us attain happiness.

 Hedonism is the philosophy that pleasure is the most

important pursuit of mankind, and the only thing that
is good for an individual. Hedonists, therefore, strive
to maximize their total pleasure (the net of
any pleasure less any pain or suffering)
 In all its variants, it holds that happiness is a matter
of raw subjective feeling. A happy life maximizes
feelings of pleasure and minimizes pain.
A happy person smiles a lot, is ebullient, bright eyed
and bushy tailed; her pleasures are intense and many,
her pains are few and far between.
Activity 3: Movie Review and Analysis
Watch the documentary film That Sugar Film (2014) by Damon Garneau.
Relate the movie’s themes on the role of science and technology in the
achievement of a good life. Write a two-page movie review and analysis regarding
this matter.