HUMAN

FLOURISHING
BERNALES, NOEL JR.
BORJA, JOAQUIM DOMINIC
BUNAYOG, GABRIELA YZABEL
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HUMAN
FLOURISHING
Human flourishing is both the optimal continuing
development of human beings’ potentials and living well as a
human being, which means being engaged in relationships
and activities that are meaningful, i.e. aligned with both their
own values and humanistic values, in a way that is satisfying
to them. Flourishing is conditional on the contribution of
individuals and requires an enabling environment
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HUMAN
FLOURISHING
Flourishing is a hybrid concept: it is naturalistic, culture-
dependent and agent-relative. Flourishing is also both
objective and subjective: There are potentials that human
beings need to be able to develop and enact to say that they
are flourishing, but human beings also have their own views,
preferences and desires about the way in which they best
develop and enact their potential.
 OPTIMAL
DEVELOPMENT
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OPTIMAL
DEVELOPMENT
The phrase optimal development is used here to explicitly express the aspirational
quality of flourishing. Flourishing means developing oneself throughout one’s life in
relationship with others and the world towards living and doing well. It is important to
note that optimal development is agent relative, which means that it should not be
interpreted as a uniform standard applicable to all humans in the same way, but that
which is related to individuals’ potentials.
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OPTIMAL
DEVELOPMENT
Human beings share many potentials, but individuals have different potentials and
different levels of potentials and therefore what is optimal/aspirational for A can be
different from what is optimal/aspirational for B.
It is also agent relative, because human beings develop potentials through
different pathways (influenced by their cultural background, beliefs etc.) and also for
different ways to live well. For example, cognitive and emotional potentials can be
developed for human beings to be good parents or friends, but these potentials are
also needed to learn, work and be active citizens.
POTENTIALS
POTENTIALS
• CAPACITY
• PROPENSITY
• CAPABILTY
POTENTIALS
• CAPACITY
Is a possibility. A capacity notion of potential only denies
that a person cannot acquire some characteristic; it does not
say that s/he will.

[Compare to definition in Oxford English Dictionary: The power,

ability, or faculty for anything in particular, or James (2018):
capacity means the ability to hold].
POTENTIALS
• PROPENSITY
-expresses that a conditionally predictable
endpoint will be reached if the right conditions are
present.
-an inclination or natural tendency to behave in a
particular way.
"a propensity for violence"
POTENTIALS
• CAPABILTY
- is a person’s power and freedom to
effectively pursue what s/he has set out to do.
- a person’s opportunity and ability to generate
valuable outcomes, taking into account internal and
external preconditions. It captures the individual’s
freedom of choice and agency in deliberating what
constitutes a good life
WHAT IS HAPPINESS?
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HAPPINESS
In psychology, happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being which can be defined
by, among others, positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.

• To behaviorists, happiness is a cocktail of emotions we experience when we do something

good or positive.

• To neurologists, happiness is the experience of a flood of hormones released in the brain

as a reward for behavior that prolongs survival.

• The hedonistic view of well-being is that happiness is the polar opposite of suffering, the
presence of happiness indicates the absence of pain. Because of this, hedonists believe that
the purpose of life is to maximize happiness, which minimizes misery.
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EUDAIMONIA
a term that combines the Greek words for "good" and "spirit" to describe the
ideology. Eudaimonia defines happiness as the pursuit of becoming a better
person. Eudaimonists do this by challenging themselves intellectually or by engaging
in activities that make them spiritually richer people

• good spirited”
• coined by Greek philosopher Aristotle
• Describes the pinnacle of happiness that is attainable by humans.
• “human flourishing”
ARISTOTLE
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ARISTOTLE
• Aristotle believed that human flourishing requires a life with other people. Aristotle taught
that people acquire virtues through practice and that a set of concrete virtues could lead a
person toward his natural excellence and happiness.

• According to Aristotle, there is an end of all of the actions that we perform which we desire
for itself. This is what is known as eudaimonia, flourishing, or happiness, which is desired
for its own sake with all other things being desired on its account. Eudaimonia is a property
of one's life when considered as a whole. Flourishing is the highest good of human
endeavors and that toward which all actions aim. It is success as a human being. The best
life is one of excellent human activity.
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ARISTOTLE
From Nicomachean Ethics (the philosophical inquiry into the nature of the good life for a human being.)

Human flourishing arises as a result of different components such as

• Phronesis - wisdom in determining ends and the means of attaining them, practical understanding,
sound judgment,
• Friendship
• Wealth
• Power
In ancient Greek society, they believe that acquiring these will surely bring the seekers happiness,
which in effect allows them to partake in the greater notion of what we call the Good.
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ARISTOTLE
As time changes, elements that comprise human flourishing changed.

• People found means to live more comfortably, explore more places, develop more
products, and make more money.

• Humans of today are expected to become “man of the world.”

• Supposed to situate himself in a global neighborhood, working side by side among

institutions and the government to be able to reach a common goal.
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DIFFERENCE CONCEPTION
OF HUMAN FLOURISHING
EASTERN
• Focus is community-centric
• Individual should sacrifice himself for the sake of society
• Chinese Confucian system
- an ancient Chinese belief system, which focuses on the importance of personal
ethics and morality. Whether it is only or a philosophy or also a religion is debated.
Confucianism is a philosophy and belief system from ancient China, which laid the
foundation for much of Chinese culture.
• Japanese Bushido
- the code of the samurai, stressing unquestioning loyalty and obedience and
valuing honor above life.
- a Japanese word that literally means "warrior way"
• Encourage studies of literature, sciences, and art for a greater cause
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DIFFERENCE CONCEPTION
OF HUMAN FLOURISHING
Western
• More focused on the individual
• Human flourishing as an end
• Aristotelian view
• Aims for Eudaimonia as the ultimate good
 SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
AND HUMAN FLOURISHING
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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
AND HUMAN FLOURISHING
• Every discovery, innovation, and success contributes to our pool of
human knowledge.
• Human’s perpetual need to locate himself in the world by finding
proofs to trace evolution.
• Elicits our idea of self-importance.
• Technology is a human activity we excel in as a result of achieving
science. (Heidegger)
• Good is inherently related to the truth.
SCIENCE AS METHODS
AND RESULTS
• Science stems from objectivity brought upon by a rigid method

• Claim to reason and empiricism (the idea that all learning comes
from only experience and observations
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the
17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and
experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.
 STEPS IN SCIENTIFIC METHOD
In school, the scientific method is introduced in the earlier part of discussions. Even though the number of
steps varies, it presents a general idea how to do science:

1. Observe and determine if there are unexplained occurrences unfolding.

2. Determine the problem and identify factors involved.
3. Through past knowledge of similar instance, formulate hypothesis that could explain the said phenomenon.
Ideally, the goal is to reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis of the study “to count
as significant” (can also be separated into additional steps such as “to generate prediction” or “to infer from
past experiments”).
4. Conduct experiments by setting up dependent and independent variables and trying to see how independent
ones affect dependent ones.
5. Gather and analyze results throughout and upon culmination of the experiment. Examine if the data gathered
are significant enough to conclude results.
6. Formulate conclusion and provide recommendation in case others would want to broaden the study.
 VERIFICATION THEORY
The use of empirical data, observation, test, or experiment to confirm the truth or rational
justification of a hypothesis. Scientific beliefs must be evaluated and supported by empirical
data

• A discipline in science, if it can be confirmed or interpreted in the event of an alternative hypothesis

being accepted.

• Premium on empiricism (the idea that all learning comes from only experience and observations)

• Takes into account those results which are measurable and experiments which are
repeatable.
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VIENNA CIRCLE

(CIRCULO DE VIENA)

The Vienna Circle of Logical

Empiricism was a group of elite
philosophers and scientists drawn from
the natural and social sciences, logic and
mathematics who met regularly from 1924
to 1936 at the University of Vienna,
chaired by Moritz Schlick

Among its members were Gustav

Bergmann, Rudolf Carnap, Herbert
Feigl, Philipp Frank, Kurt Gödel, Otto
Neurath, and Friedrich Waismann; and
among the members of a cognate group,
the Gesellschaft für empirische
Philosophie (“Society for Empirical
Philosophy”), which met in Berlin, were
Carl Hempel and Hans Reichenbach.
 VIENNA CIRCLE
The Vienna circle was made up mainly of physicists, mathematicians and philosophers, whose
fortnightly meetings were dedicated to investigating problems of logic, science, language and
mathematics.

Believed that only those which can be observed should be regarded as meaningful and reject
those which cannot be directly accessed as meaningless.

During the era of Austrofascism and after the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany most
members of the Vienna Circle were forced to emigrate. The murder of Schlick in 1936 by former
student Johann Nelböck put an end to the Vienna Circle in Austria.
 FALSIFICATION THEORY
The Falsification Principle, proposed by Karl Popper, is a way of demarcating science from non-science.
It suggests that for a theory to be considered scientific it must be able to be tested and conceivably proven false.

For example, the hypothesis that "all swans are white," can be falsified by observing a black swan.

• As long as an ideology is not proven to be false and can best explain a phenomenon over alternative theories,
we should accept the said ideology.
• Allowed emergence of theories otherwise rejected by the verification theory.
• Encourages research in order to determine which among the theories can stand the test of falsification
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