College of Hospitality Management

First Semester, AY: 2024 – 2025

MODULE 7
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION
The Good Life

Course Title: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Course Code: GE 7

Name: _____________________________________________
Course and Year: _____________________________________________
Contact Number: _____________________________________________
Date and Time Allotment: (TTH)
Instructor: Eleanor Mae C. Taban

Introduction

This module entitled Science, Technology and Society and the Human Condition is about the Good Life. 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 understand the things in the world runs parallel with the job of truly getting into what will
make the soul flourish. In an attempt to understand reality and the external world, man must seek to understand himself too. One must
find the truth about what the good is before one can even try to locate that which is good.

I. Objectives

At the end of the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
1. Examine what is meant by a good life.
2. Identify how humans attempt to attain what is deemed to be a good life.
3. Recognize possibilities available to human being to attain the good life.

II. Lecture

ARISTOTLE (NICOMACHEAN ETHICS AND MODERN CONCEPTS)

- An important ancient Greek philosopher
- He work spans from natural philosophy to logic and political theory, attempted to explain what the good is.
- He define GOOD LIFE that can be useful to pursuit of the truth.
- He also said that: 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.

GOOD
• Expressed and manifested in many ways for different persons and circumstances

GOOD LIFE
• It is characterized by happiness that springs from living and doing well
• Ancient Greeks called this concept of “LIVING WELL AND DOING WELL” or also known as “EUDAIMONIA”
• The word came from the Greek word “EU” meaning good and “daimon” meaning spirit”. Which means Happiness and
excellence.
• It is a flourishing life filled with meaningful endeavors that empower the human person to be the best version of himself/herself.

HAPPINESS
• The ultimate end of human action
• It is which people pursue for its own sake
• It is also defines a good life
• Comes from living a life of VIRTUE, life of excellence, manifested from the personal to global scale

HAPPINESS AS THE GOAL OF A GOOD LIFE

1. MATERIALISM
o The first materialists were the atomist in Ancient Greece (Democritus and Leucippus) 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. Atomos simply
comes together to form the things in the world.
 2. HEDONISM
o The hedonists, see the end goal of life in acquiring pleasure. Pleasure has always been the priority of hedonist.
o For them, lie is about obtaining and indulging in pleasure because life is limited.

3. STOICISM
o Espoused the idea that to generate happiness, one must learn to distance oneself and be apathetic.
o The original term, apatheia, precisely means to be indifferent.
o For the stoics, happiness can only be attained by a careful practice of apathy.

4. THEISM
o The ultimate basic of happiness for theists is the communion with God.
o The world where we are in is only just a temporary reality where we have to maneuver around while waiting for the
ultimate return to the hands of God.

5. HUMANISM
o 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.

VIRTUE
• A significant role in the living and attainment of the good life
• A constant practice of the good no matter how difficult the circumstances
• The excellence of character that empowers one to do and be good
• It is cultivated with habit and discipline

KINDS OF VIRTUE
1. Intellectual (Virtue of Thought)
 The main owes its birth and growth to teaching (experience and time) (nurture)
 Achieved through education, time and experiences.
 This also includes key intellectual virtues like wisdom, which guides a person’s ethical behavior.
 Another is understanding which is gained through scientific endeavors and contemplation. Intellectual virtues are acquired
through self-taught knowledge and skills, which includes skills learned from formal institutions.

2. Moral / affection (Virtue of Character)

 As a result of habit (nature) action and feeling
 Achieved through habitual practice. Examples of moral virtues are generosity, temperance and courage. Aristotle also
explained that although the capacity for virtue is innate, it is brought into completion only by practice. Example will be, it is
by repeatedly being unselfish that one develops the virtue of generosity.

 According to Aristotle both intellectual and moral virtue should be in accordance with reason to achieve Eudaimonia. Indifference
with these virtues for reasons that are only for one’s convenience, pleasure and satisfaction leads human away from Eudaimonia.
 A virtue is ruined by any excess and deficiency in how one lives and acts.
 Putting everything in perspective, the good life in the sense of Eudaimonia is the state of being happy, healthy and prosperous in
the way one thinks, lives and acts.

SOCIAL CONTRACT
• Everyone has the capacity within himself/herself to be good, but he/she also has to be disciplined to make a habit of exercising
the good.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• One of the highest expressions of human faculties
• Allow us to thrive and flourish in life
• May corrupt a person, that will help him/her steer clear of danger

Man is constantly in pursuit of the good life. Every person has his perspective when it comes to what comprises the good life.
Throughout history, mas has worked hard in pointing out what amounts to a good, happy life. Some people like the classical theorists
thought that happiness has to do with the insides of the human person.
The soul, as the seat of our humanity, has been the focus of attention of this end goal. The soul has to attain a certain balance
in order to have a good life, a life of flourishing. It was only until the 17th century that happiness became a centerpiece in the lives of
people.
Science and technology has been, for the most part, at the forefront of man’s attempts at finding this happiness. The only
question at the end of the day is whether science is taking the right path toward attaining what is really means to live a good life.
Name: _____________________________________________
Course and Year: _____________________________________
Contact Number: _____________________________________
Date of Submission: _____________________________________
Instructor: Eleanor Mae C. Taban

 Note/Reminder:
 Don’t hesitate to ask me when there are some difficulties.
 Always update me upon doing your activity/assessment.
 The deadline of your activities/assessment will be announced in our Group Chat.
 Keep calm and be motivated as always!
 Don’t push yourself to the limit. If you’re tired, then rest. After a while, make a move again.
 Put a smile on your face. 

III. Application/Activity
A. Directions: Answer the given question in NOT MORE than 5 sentences.

1. In your opinion, what constitutes a good life?

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2. What does Aristotle say about the good life? Does it still stand in the contemporary world?
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3. How is the progress of science and technology a movement towards the good life?
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4. Does technology always lead us to the good life? How and why?
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5. What is happiness? What are the things that you need to do to achieve the peak of your happiness?
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IV. Assessment

Directions: Cut out pictures in magazines or newspapers that demonstrate how technology has made the man’s desire for a happy life
more realizable. Explain how these technological advancements have made the campaign for the attainment of good life easier or
otherwise.

Date Finished: _________________________ Signature: _________________________

V. Other References
 Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2017), John Stuart Mill.http://www.iep.utm.edu/mill-eth
 Macat Thinking News (2016). Aristotle’s Secret to Happiness: What Will Make Us Happy Now?
 Psychology Today (2013). Aristotle on Happiness. https://www. Psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201301/Aristotle-
happiness
 The Basics of Philosophy (2008). Theism. http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_theism.html
 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2005). Ancient Atomism. https://plato.standford.edu/entries/atomism-ancient
 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2001). Aristotle’s Ethics. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics