Human Flourishing

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.

For Aristotle, the good is what is good for purposeful, goal-directed entities. He defines the good proper
to human beings as the activities in which the life functions specific to human beings are most fully
realized. For Aristotle, the good of each species is teleologically immanent to that species. A person's
nature as a human being provides him with guidance with respect to how he should live his life. A
fundamental fact of human nature is the existence of individual human beings each with his own rational
mind and free will. The use of one's volitional consciousness is a person's distinctive capacity and means
of survival.

One's own life is the only life that a person has to live. It follows that, for Aristotle, the "good" is what is
objectively good for a particular man. Aristotle's eudaimonia is formally egoistic in that a person's
normative reason for choosing particular actions stems from the idea that he must pursue his own good or
flourishing. Because self-interest is flourishing, the good in human conduct is connected to the self-
interest of the acting person. Good means "good for" the individual moral agent. Egoism is an integral part
of Aristotle's ethics.

What is Good Life as Perceived by different schools of thought?

Aristotle and Good Life

It is interesting to note that the first philosopher who approached the problem of reality from scientific
lens is Aristotle who is also the first thinker who dabbled into the complex problematization of the end
goal of life: happiness.

Compared to his predecessor and teacher, Plato, Aristotle embarked on different approach in figuring out
reality. Plato thought that things in this world are not real and are only copies of the real in the world of
forms. While Aristotle puts everything back to the ground in claiming that this world is all there and that
this world is the only reality, we can all access.
Aristotle also forwarded the idea that there is no reality over and above what the senses can perceive. As
such, it is only by observation of the external world that one can truly understand what reality is all about.
Change is a process that is inherent in things. We, along with all other entities in the world start as
potentialities and move towards actualities. The movement, of course, entails change.
 https://wellbeingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/seedlinggrowth.jpg

Figure 6.1

Look at the seed in the picture. It eventually germinates and grows into a plant. The seed that turned to
become the plant underwent change from the potential plant that is the seed to its full actuality.

This can be likened to what Aristotle says that every human person aspires for an end. This end is
happiness or human flourishing. And no one resists happiness because we all want to be happy.

Materialism
The first materialists were the atomists in Ancient Greece. Democritus and Leucippus led a school whose
primary belief is that the world is made up of and is controlled by the tiny indivisible units in the world
called atomos or seeds. Accordingly, the world including human beings, is made up of matter and there is
no need to possess immaterial entities as sources of purpose. Atoms simply comes together randomly to
form the things in the world. As such, only material entities matter.
In terms of human flourishing, matter is what makes us attain happiness. The material things we possess
give us ultimate happiness. We see this at work with most people who are clinging on to material wealth
as the primary source of meaning of their existence.

Hedonism
The Hedonists see the end goal of life in acquiring pleasure. Pleasure has always been the priority of
hedonists. For them life is obtaining and indulging in pleasure because life is limited. They believe that
pleasure give meaning to their life without thinking of the future. The mantra of this school of thought is
the famous, “Eat, drink and merry for tomorrow we will die.
Stoicism
Another school of thought led by Epicurus, the stoics, exposed the idea that to generate happiness, one
must learn to distance oneself and be apathetic. The original term apatheia, precisely means to be
indifferent. These group believe that they can do things at their own and believe that happiness can only
be attained by a careful practice of apathy.

Theism
Most people find the meaning of their lives using God as the fulcrum of their existence. The Philippines,
as predominantly country, is witness to how people base their life goals on beliefs that hinged on some
form of supernatural reality called heaven. The ultimate basis of happiness for theists is the communion
with God.

Humanism
Humanism as another school of thought espouses the freedom of man to carve his own destiny and to
legislate his own laws, free from the shackles of a God that monitors and controls. For humanists, man is
literally the captain of his own ship. They see themselves not merely as stewards of the creation but as
individuals who are in control of themselves and the world outside them.

As a result of the motivation of the humanist current, scientists eventually turned to technology in order to
ease the difficulty of life. Scientists of today meanwhile are ready to confront more sophisticated attempts
at altering the world for the benefit of humanity. Some people now are willing to tamper with time and
space in the name of technology.

Application
Activity 2: Role Playing

You are now dependent on the comforts of what technology has brought to us. This time, try to imagine our
world without technology? How do you think our daily routine would be like? Demonstrate a scenario where
certain technological innovation does not exist. You may form a group of five and use any technological
advancement for your role playing.

Science and technology have aided us in survival and helped us outsmart our adversaries, provided us
comfortable life, allowed us to explore the world and assisted us in discovering more about ourselves and
the truth.
-Unknown