The Good Life According to

Aristotle and Other

Philosophies
WEEK 10
 The Good Life
• Everyone is in pursuit of the good life.
• We do certain things because we want to
achieve a life which will make us happy and
content.
• People’s definition of good life may vary and
differ in the particulars.
• In general, we recognize universal truths that
cuts our differences.
 The Good Life According To
Ancient Thinking
• In Ancient Greece, long before the word
“science” has been coined, the need to
understand the world and reality was bound
with the need to understand the self and the
good life.
• For Plato, the task of understanding the things
in the world runs parallel with the job of truly
getting into what will make the soul flourish.
 The Good Life According To
Ancient Thinking
• It was Aristotle who gave definitive distinction
between the theoretical and practical
sciences.
Theoretical disciplines – “truth” is the aim
(logic, biology, physics among others)
Practical disciplines – “good” is the end goal
(ethics and politics)
Aristotle on Happiness
 Aristotle on Happiness
• Aristotle believes that all forms of imbalance
won’t bring a person to the highest form of
happiness or “eudaimonia” (eu=good,
daimon=spirit)
• In order to achieve “eudaimonia” one must
religiously apply moderation- or what he
called as “Golden Mean”
 Aristotle on Morality
• Aristotle (Virtue Ethics) said that a virtue is a
trait of character manifested in habitual action.
• The word “habitual” here is important.
E.g.
The virtue of honesty, for example, is not
possessed by someone who tells the truth only
occasionally or only when it benefits her. The
honest person is truthful as a matter of course;
her actions “spring from a firm and unchangeable
character.”
 Aristotle on Morality
• Vices are also traits of character manifested in
habitual action.
• The other part of the definition is evaluative:
virtues are good, whereas vices are bad.
• A virtue is a commendable trait of character
manifested in habitual action.
 Aristotle on Morality
TOO LITTLE TOO MUCH MEAN
COWARDICE RASHNESS COURAGEOUS
MISERLY EXTRAVAGANT LIBERAL
STARVATION GLUTTONY TEMPERANCE
COSTLY GREEDY GENEROSITY
 Why Are the Virtues Important?
• We said that virtues are traits of character
that are good for people to have.
• This raises the question of why the virtues are
good.
• Why should a person be courageous,
generous, honest, or loyal?
• The answer may depend on the virtue in
question.
 Why Are the Virtues Important?
• Courage is good because we need it to cope with
danger.
• Generosity is desirable because there will always
be people who need help.
• Honesty is needed because without it relations
between people would go wrong in all sorts of
ways.
• Loyalty is essential to friendship; friends stand by
one another even when others would turn away.
 Other Philosophical Views on the
Good Life
• Epicureanism
• Stoicism
• Materialism
• Theism
• Humanism
 Epicureanism

“The highest good is pleasure, the greatest evil is

pain.”
-EPICURUS
 What is Epicureanism?
• This philosophical school was named after its
founder Epicurus
• Epicureanism was grounded in the atomic
theory of Democritus, but, in fact, Epicurus,
like all post-Alexandrian philosophers, does
not seem to have been really interested in
science but in finding out about the good life
 What is Epicureanism?
• Like Aristotle, Epicurus believed that the goal
of life was happiness, but happiness he
equated simply with pleasure
• Epicurus further explained that no act should
be undertaken except for the pleasure in
which it results, and no act should be rejected
except for the pain that it produces
 Epicurean View of Death
• According to Epicurus, one of the obstacle in
attaining happiness is the fear of death
• He also added that fear is increased by the
religious belief that if you incur the wrath of
the gods, you will be severely punished in the
afterlife
• He tried to answer the issue of the fear of
death in the next slide
Epicurean View of Death
 Epicurean View of Happiness
• According to Epicurus, there are two kinds of
desires, hence, two kinds of pleasure as a result of
gratifying those desires: natural desire (which has
two subclasses) and vain desire

I. Natural desire=Natural Pleasure

A. Necessary (e.g., desire for food and sleep)
B. Unnecessary (e.g., desire for sex)
II. Vain/Temporary desire=Vain/Temporary Pleasure
(e.g., desire for decorative clothing or exotic food)
 Epicurean View of Happiness
• Natural necessary desires must be satisfied
and are usually easy to satisfy. They result in a
good deal of pleasure and in very few painful
consequences
• Vain desires do not need to be satisfied and
are not easy to satisfy. Because there are no
natural limits to them, they tend to become
obsessive and lead to very painful
consequences.
 Epicurean View of Happiness
• The desire for sex is natural but usually can be
overcome; and when it can be, it should be,
because satisfaction of the sexual drive gives
intense pleasure, and all intense emotional
states are dangerous
• Also, the desire for sex puts people in
relationships that are usually ultimately more
painful than pleasant and that are often
extremely painful
 Stoicism

“The goal of life is living in agreement with

nature.”
-Zeno of Citium
 What is Stoicism?
• Stoicism was another important Hellenistic
philosophy that was transported to Rome
• Stoicism was founded in Greece by Zeno of
Cyprus (334–262 B.C.E.), who used to preach
to his students from a portico, or stoa (hence
the term “stoicism,” literally, “porchism”)
What is Stoicism?
 What is Stoicism?
• Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy
that flourished throughout the Roman and
Greek world until the 3rd century AD
• Stoicism is predominantly a philosophy of
personal ethics which is informed by its
system of logic and its views on the natural
world
 Stoicism and Happiness
• According to its teachings, as social beings,
the path to happiness for humans is found in
accepting that which we have been given in
life, by not allowing ourselves to be controlled
by our desire for pleasure or our fear of pain,
by using our minds to understand the world
around us and to do our part in nature's plan,
and by working together and treating others
in a fair and just manner
 Stoicism and Happiness
• Everyone is a part of the same common sense
or “logos”.
• There exists a universal rightness or the
“Natural Law”
• It teaches that nothing happens accidentally,
everything happens through necessity
• In order to achieve happiness, one must have self-
control and accept his/her fate
 Materialism
• Materialism can refer either to the simple
preoccupation with the material world, as
opposed to intellectual or spiritual concepts,
or to the theory that physical matter is all
there is.
• This theory is far more than a simple focus on
material possessions.
 Materialism
• It states that everything in the universe is
matter, without any true spiritual or
intellectual existence.
• Materialism can also refer to a doctrine that
material success and progress are the highest
values in life.
• This doctrine appears to be prevalent in
western society today.
 Materialism
• An example of materialism is explaining love
in terms of material things.
• Another example of materialism is valuing a
new car over friendships.
 Theism
• Theism, the view that all limited or finite things
are dependent in some way on one supreme or
ultimate reality of which one may also speak in
personal terms.
• Philosophical theism is the belief that a deity
exists (or must exist) independent of the
teaching or revelation of any particular religion.
It represents belief in a personal God entirely
without doctrine.
 Theism and Happiness
• Union of soul with the supreme being is the
ultimate source of happiness.

E.g. Buddhism = Nirvana

Catholics = Salvation and Eternal life
Hinduism = Dharma and Moksha
 Humanism
• Humanism is a philosophical and ethical
stance that emphasizes the value and agency
of human beings, individually and collectively,
and generally prefers critical thinking and
evidence (rationalism and empiricism) over
acceptance of dogma or superstition.
 Humanism
• Generally, however, humanism refers to a
perspective that affirms some notion of
human freedom and progress.
• It views humans as solely responsible for the
promotion and development of individuals
and emphasizes a concern for man in relation
to the world.
 Humanism on Happiness
• Humanism is a democratic and ethical life
stance, which affirms that human beings have
the right and responsibility to give meaning
and shape to their own lives.
• It stands for the building of a more humane
society through an ethic based on human and
other natural values in the spirit of reason and
free inquiry through human capabilities.
 Humanistic Ideas
• There are no supernatural beings.
• The material universe is the only thing that
exists.
• Science provides the only reliable source of
knowledge about this universe.
• We only live this life - there is no after-life,
and no such thing as reincarnation.
 Humanistic Ideas
• Human beings can live ethical and fulfilling
lives without religious beliefs.
• Human beings derive their moral code from
the lessons of history, personal experience,
and thought.
 References
• Stumpf, Samuel Enoch, FROM SOCRATES TO
SARTRE: A History of Philosophy. New York Mc
Graw, 2008
• Palmer, Donald, LOOKING AT PHILOSOPHY:
The Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy
Made Lighter. McGraw-Hill, 2005
• Buckingham, Will et al, THE PHILOSOPHY
BOOK: Big Ideas Simply Explained. DK, 2011
• Google Images