CHAPTER 8

By: Jawo Sumaraga

 “The good life is a PROCESS,

“The good life is a PROCESS,

not a STATE OF BEING.
It is a DIRECTION, not a DESTINATION”

not
Carl a
Rogers, STATE OF BEING.
American
Psychologist 1902-1987

It is a DIRECTION, not a DESTINATION”

Carl Rogers, American

Psychologist 1902-1987
AN INTERESTING QUESTION POSTED
AN INTERESTING
BY MARK MANSON

QUESTION
“What do you want
POSTED BY MARK
out of life?”
MANSON
“What doANSWER
PROBABLY you do want
IN
THE SIMPLEST
out of life?”
COMMON WAY
“I want to be happy
PROBABLY ANSWER IN and
“ Happiness as loving one's life and
valuing it in ways manifested by sufficient
enjoyment and robust sense of meaning.
Achieving happiness and man's own desire
and needs commonly gives essence for
living a good life.
In particular, moral decency and
goodness, authenticity, mental health, self-
fulfillments, and meaningfulness describes
it .”

MARTIN
(2012)
 DOTSON (2012)

“ Every human being aspires to live a good life. Conversely, man's idea of “good life” differs in
many dimensions.”
THE CONCEPT OF BEING
GOOD
“GOOD”
IS COMMONLY USED
INTERCHANGEABLY
WITH THE TERM
“RIGHT”
 Explained that the
adjectives good and
right are related in
TRAER (2007) meaning, but are not
synonyms.
It makes no sense to
speak of a “right
person” when we mean
a “good person; or the
right action as a
meaning for good
action.
HOW WE CAN DIFFERENTIATE THE
TWO TERMS THEN?
Taking the right action means correctly applying a norm, premise,
presupposition, rule, standard, or law. This explains that the term
“right” reasons are being used to justify the principle and its
application.

Right Action compels DUTY

fulfilling duties RIGHT
ACTION
and upholding rights. RIGHTS
Being good involves having the character and personal qualities that were
justified by reason as having moral worth.

TRAER 2007
MORALS refer to an individuals own
principles regarding RIGHT and
WRONG.
 In Aristotelean
view,
“The understandability of
the good is based on the idea
of what is good for the
specific entity under
consideration.”
 FOR
ARISTOTLE
The good is what is good for
purposeful, goal-directed
entities.
He defines the good proper to
human being as the activities
in which the life functions
specific to human beings are
most fully realized.
 Being good
CHARACTER
BEING GOOD entails
RELATIONSHIPS
nurturing
character and
fostering
relationship
It acknowledges the fact that human being is endowed with his
own rational mind and FREE WILL.

TIMBREZA (2008) as elucidated by GRIPALDO (2013)

Explained that in natural ethician's view, “good is

that which is suitable to and proper for human nature.
Whenever it is not proper for human nature, it is bad
and must avoided”
ACTING RIGHTLY means doing the right thing based on the
voice of conscience, otherwise, feeling of guilt, self-reproach,
and remorse will be felt. It follows that a person, as a human
being, has his own consciousness, of function, survival, and
means of having the life he envisioned.

Thus, considering the aspect of human being nature, the term

“good” denotes a more objective meaning of “a state or way
of being.”
The meaning of this term up to present times
remains vague.
Wise men of the past argued with nature and
prerequisites of the good life.
Similarly, questions such as “Is a meaningful
life also a happy one?” and “Is living with
happiness
means living a good life?” are still part of the
debates even of the philosophers.
 SOCRATES
“ The unexamined life is
not worth living for”, the
idea of worthwhile living
should be filtered with
experience and vice
versa.
 ARISTOTLE
Further elucidated the
idea of relating the
essence of happiness to
achieving well-being
and experiencing good
life.
 STEVE MUELLER (2016)
THE FOUNDER OF PLANET OF SUCCESS defined the term as:

.. a (desirable) state that is primarily characterized by a

high standard of living or the adherence to ethical and
moral laws. As such, the term can both be understood
as the quest for wealth, material possessions or luxuries
and the quest to create a worthwhile, honest and
meaningful existence.
MARTIN HEIDEGGER
An existentialist philosopher, also has a different view
on the aspect of life. He dealt more on how we live an
“authentic life” rather dealing with the “good life”.
For Heidegger, living an authentic life means living
with deep acceptance on the facticity of “death” and
resulting to a “life lived according to what it has
clearly decided as its meaning and purpose”.
 CAN
TECHNOLOGY
EVENTUALLY
EXTINGUISH
HUMANITY?
 No one can deny that fact that SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY has a
PROFOUND impact on how modern man thinks and appreciates matter. It can
be concretely seen in the present conditions of man in the society. The desire to
feel satisfaction of research and development through genetic engineering,
cloning and the likes opened endless doors for skeptics.
 (TIMBREZA, 2013)
On the other hand, man's varied ethical foundations
may also differentiate the idea of good life. Some may
define it through attaining pleasure (hedonism); others
may relate it to peace of mind through minimizing
desires and passions (stoicism) and some views are
based on professing moderate pleasure, which for
them, “anything that is taken in excess is bad”
(epicureanism)
“What good life is?”

Remains a question for everyone.