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The Good Life: Midterm - Session 6

Aristotle believed that the good life, or eudaimonia, involved living virtuously and exercising reason. He saw virtue as having two parts - intellectual virtue developed through teaching and experience, and moral virtue developed through habit. Happiness, to Aristotle, was the ultimate goal of human existence and required fulfilling one's potential through cultivating virtue across all aspects of life. While science and technology could help or hinder the good life depending on how they are used, at their best they represent the highest expression of human faculties and allow people to thrive.

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95 views18 pages

The Good Life: Midterm - Session 6

Aristotle believed that the good life, or eudaimonia, involved living virtuously and exercising reason. He saw virtue as having two parts - intellectual virtue developed through teaching and experience, and moral virtue developed through habit. Happiness, to Aristotle, was the ultimate goal of human existence and required fulfilling one's potential through cultivating virtue across all aspects of life. While science and technology could help or hinder the good life depending on how they are used, at their best they represent the highest expression of human faculties and allow people to thrive.

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Ail Bap
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Midterm – Session 6

The Good Life


Loren Grace Jaranilla-Anunciado, MS
Aristotle
ancient
Greek
philosopher
known for his
natural
philosophy.
logic and
political theory
More on Aristotle:
one of the greatest thinkers in the history of western
science and philosophy, making contributions to logic,
metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, botany, ethics,
politics, agriculture, medicine, dance and theatre.
first to classify areas of human knowledge into distinct
disciplines such as mathematics, biology, and ethics.
founder of the Lyceum, the first scientific institute, based in
Athens, Greece.
one of the strongest advocates of a liberal arts education,
which stresses the education of the whole person,
including one's moral character, rather than merely learning
a set of skills.
Nicomachean Ethics 2:2
All human activities aim
at some good.
Every art and human
inquiry, and similarly
every action and pursuit ,
is thought to aim at some
good; and for this reason
the good has been rightly
declared as that at which
all things aim.
What is meant by good life?
• living in comfort and luxury with few
problems or worries.
• characterized by happiness from living
and doing well
• content
What is eudaimonia?
came from the Greek word eu meaning
“good” and daimon meaning “spirit”.
refers to the good life marked by happiness and
excellence.
flourishing life filled with meaningful endeavors that
empower the human person to be the best version of
himself/herself.
Aristotle’s view of good life
the activity of the soul in accordance
with virtue.
o believed that good for humans is the
maximum realization of what was unique
to humans.
o the good for humans was to reason well.
o The task of reason was to teach humans
how to act virtuously, and the exercise
faculties in accordance with virtue.
Virtue/s
behavior showing high moral standards.
"paragons of virtue"
synonyms: goodness, virtuousness, righteousness,
morality, ethicalness, uprightness, upstandingness,
integrity, dignity, rectitude, honesty, honorableness,
honorability, honor, incorruptibility, probity, propriety,
decency, respectability, nobility, nobility of soul/spirit,
nobleness, worthiness, worth, good, trustworthiness,
meritoriousness, irreproachableness, blamelessness,
purity, pureness, lack of corruption, merit; principles, high
principles, ethics
"the simple virtue and integrity of peasant life"
Nicomachean Ethics 2:1
Virtue, then, being of two kinds, intellectual
and moral, intellectual virtue in the main owes its
birth and growth in teaching ( for its reason it
requires experience and time). While moral virtue
comes about as a result of habit
The Virtues:
Intellectual virtue Moral virtue

• theoretical wisdom • controlled by


(thinking and truth) practical wisdom
(ability to make
•practical wisdom right judgment)
understanding. • owed its
• Experience and time development to
how one nurtured
are necessary
it as habit.
requirements for the
• can be learned
development of
intellectual virtue
Happiness to Aristotle
"Happiness depends on ourselves.“
central purpose of human life and a goal in
itself.
depends on the cultivation of virtue.
a genuinely happy life required the fulfillment of a
broad range of conditions, including physical as
well as mental well-being.
Happiness as the Ultimate Purpose of Human
Existence
happiness is a final end or goal that
encompasses the totality of one's life.
It is not something that can be gained or lost
in a few hours, like pleasurable sensations.
It is more like the ultimate value of your life as
lived up to this moment, measuring how well you
have lived up to your full potential as a human
being.
Science and Technology and Good Life

S&T is also the movement towards good life.


S&T are one of the highest expressions of
human faculties.
S&T allow us to thrive and flourish if we desire it.
S&T may corrupt a person
S&T with virtue can helpan individual to be out
of danger.
Why is it that everyone is in the
pursuit of the good life?
“Life is good! It is only our thoughts, choices and
actions towards the situations we meet in life each
moment of time that makes life look bad! The
same bad situation in life that makes one person
think badly inspires another to do a noble thing!
The same good situation in life that makes one
person feel so good to get into a bad situation
inspires another person to create another good
situation because of the good situation. It is all
about thoughts, choices and actions!
Life is good! Live it well!”
― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
One must find the truth about what
the good is before one can even
try to locate that which is good.
Questions for Reflection
1. In your own opinion, what constitutes a good
life?
2. What does Aristotle say about the good life?
Does it still stand in the contemporary world?
3. How is the progress in science and technology
a movement towards the good life?

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