Lesson 5.

The Good Life

COURSE MATERIAL

What is “the good life?” Most probably you will say that you are having a good life if you
and your family are physically well, have enough or more than enough financial capacity to
satisfy your basic needs and wants, the family members are living comfortably together in your
own house in a peaceful community, and have at least a vehicle. Or for some, good life means
living a simple life.

One basic way to use the word “good” is to express moral approval. When we say
someone is living well or that he has lived a good life, he may simply mean that he is a good
person, someone who is courageous, helpful, trustworthy, kind, selfless, generous, helpful,
loyal, principled, and so on. The moral conception of the good life has exemplified by some
known individuals. Socrates and Plato both gave absolute priority to being a virtuous person
over all other supposedly good things such as pleasure, wealth, or power (Westocott, 2020).
For Epicarus, an ancient Greek philosopher, life is worth living if we can experience
pleasure, where pleasure is enjoyable, fun and pleasant. This is the hedonist view of that
pleasure is what makes life worth living. Even today when we say someone is living a good life,
we may mean that they are enjoying recreational pleasures: good food, party, travel, doing what
makes one happy.
For Aristotle, good life is a happy life. He both agree with Socrates that to live a good life
one must be a morally good person and Epicarus that happy life involves variety of pleasurable
experiences. According to Aristotle, we may not realize it, but happiness is the end goal of
everything we do.
The materialism view of happiness is that, matter makes us attain happiness. Material
wealth as the primary source of the meaning of their existence. Democritus, an ancient Greek
philosopher and Leucippus led a school whose primary belief is that the world is made up of tiny
indivisible units called atomos or seeds, and even human beings are made up of matter.
Stoicism teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of
overcoming destructive emotions. For stoics, happiness can only be attained by careful practice
of apathy. In this world view, they adopt the fact that some things are not within our control, that
the sooner we realize this, the happier we can become.
The Theism view is that “communion with God is the ultimate basis of happiness.”
That everything we have are temporary and we have to move around while witing for the
ultimate return to the hands of God.
Humanism is another school of thought espouses man has his freedom to carve his
destiny and the captain of his own ship. Humanists see themselves as individuals who are in
control of themselves and the world outside them. As a result of the motivation of the humanist,
scientists eventually turned to technology in order to ease the difficulty of life by developing
machines, tools, processes, and many others.
Finding happiness is dependent on the individual’s preference. To be satisfied with what
you have may lead to happiness and having a good life. For many, food gives them happiness
which satisfies their cravings and feel better, without knowing that some of this food my lead
them to sickness and unhappiness.

Some more Philosophical Views on The Good Life:

Plato/Socrates on the good life:

In his work Apology, Plato gives an account of a speech given by Socrates while
defending himself against allegations of impiety and corrupting the youth in the year 399 BC.
When being asked by the court why Socrates simply cannot stop questioning the way people
live, Socrates responds with a simple, yet profound answer. According to Socrates the
unexamined life is not worth living. Living life without ever reflecting upon it is not worth living.
The person who unquestioningly and continuously repeats the cycle of waking up, working and
going back to sleep, is not living the good life. Even further, people that do not reflect on the
nature of things are not living a worthwhile life. If a person is not examining what they value and
why, the chances of them being able to live a good life are reduced.
Examining, reflecting and questioning the nature of things, however, is not enough.
Similarly, it’s not enough to reflect on your personal values. Living the good life requires you to
become a Master of yourself. Socrates compared this process to a charioteer directing two
horses. Socrates argued that each and every one of us is such a charioteer. We all have to
handle two horses. The first horse is stubborn. It is a direct reflection of our animal instincts with
a boundless appetite for lust and pleasure. The first horse goes in whatever direction it pleases,
if not tightly controlled. It is egotistical and does not reflect what it does. It simply does. The
second horse is of a much nobler and more sensible spirit. It resembles reason and man’s
capability to reflect upon that which he does. If the charioteer ever wants to live the good life,
the stubborn appetites of the first horse must be controlled. Only by using your reason to reign
in your passions, the two horses will lead you on the path of the good life. In line with this
arguing, not being able to control your desires and passions will make you behave like an
uncontrolled and misdirected stubborn horse. Socrates concluded that by living a just life, based
on reflection, examination and servitude to society, a person can truly live the good life. But
those who allow desires and passions to guide their actions, are most likely not living worthwhile
lives.

Aristotle on the Good Life:

Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato, and teacher
of Alexander the Great and is one of the greatest thinkers in the history of western philosophy
On one of his best known work Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle views on living well begin with a
consideration of ends and means. Suppose I want a car—the car is my end or goal. I can earn,
borrow, or steal the money to get the car—these are my means. The means I choose depends
on which is easier, quicker, likelier to succeed, etc. Now suppose I get my car? That is itself a
means to another end, say of getting to school or work. And of course, getting to school or work
is the means to another end, getting to class or a job. And these are the means of making
money, which is itself a means of buying food, clothing, and shelter, which are the means of
staying alive. Such considerations led Aristotle to wonder whether there is any final or ultimate
end, an end for which everything else is a means, an end that is not a means to anything else.
In short, he wanted to know if there is an ultimate end, goal, or purpose for human life.
For Aristotle, the final end of human life is to flourish, to live well, to have a good
life. All actions should aim at this end. But since living well may mean differently for different
people, Aristotle argued that not all those leading to living well like desires are the same. There
are acquired desires, which differ between individuals, and natural desires, which are the
same for everyone. Acquired desires—say for caviar—correspond to our wants, whereas
natural desires—say for food—correspond to our needs. Acquired desires or wants correspond
to apparent goods; things that appear good because we want them. Natural desires or needs
correspond to real goods; things that are good for us whether we want them or not.
With these considerations in mind, Aristotle states that the good life consists in the
possession, over the course of a lifetime, of all those things that are really good for us.
Moreover, what is really good for any one of us corresponds to the natural needs that are the
same for all of us. Thus what is good for one person is good for another; in other words, there is
a right plan for living well. What are these real goods that we should all seek to obtain in order to
live well? According to Aristotle, they are:
1) Bodily goods – health, vitality, vigor, and pleasure;
2)external goods – food, drink, shelter, clothing, and sleep; and
3) goods of the soul – knowledge, skill, love, friendship, aesthetic enjoyment, self-esteem, and
honor.

The first two types of goods are limited goods—we can have more of them than we
need. Goods of the soul are unlimited goods—we cannot have more of them than we need.
However, one may have the knowledge of these goods but continue not doing them. Aristotle
argued that the way to bridge the gap between knowledge of the good life and actually living it
was through the development of a good moral character. And this entails developing
good habits. A good habit allows us to perform certain actions without effort. We can have a
good habit of playing the piano, studying hard, hitting golf balls, or thinking well. We can also
habitually make good choices to avoid overeating or drinking too much.
Aristotle calls good habits virtues or excellences. Virtues of the mind are intellectual
virtues; while virtues exemplified by a regular disposition to choose correctly are moral
virtues. For Aristotle, wisdom is the most important intellectual virtue but moral virtue plays a
special role in living well. The reason moral virtue—the habit of making the right choices—is so
important is that our choices determine whether we live well. And if we make too many bad
choices we will live poorly.
So we need to develop the good habits or virtues which help us obtain what is really
good for us, as opposed to bad habits or vices which lead us toward things that merely appear
good. Good habits or moral virtues are the principal means to having good lives because they
allow us to habitually make the choices that both constitute and lead to good lives.
The most important moral virtues or habits are moderation, courage, and justice.
Moderation keeps us from overindulging in pleasure or seeking too much of the limited goods.
Courage is having the disposition to do what it takes to live a good life, and justice is the virtue
that allows us to have friends and enjoy the benefits of cooperation.
However, both knowledge of the good life and good habits may not be enough
because living well is not completely within our control. Why? First, some real goods, like wealth
or health, are not completely within our power to possess. And second, we didn’t create the
initial conditions of our birth or the environment into which we were born. Thus moral virtue,
while necessary, doesn’t guarantee a good life. We also need to be fortunate or lucky. If we
are wise, virtuous, and fortunate we will have good, meaningful lives.

THE BENEFITS OF TECHNOLOGY

There are four kinds of benefits that can be distinguished if one looks at its recent history
and considers its future:

1. Higher Living Standards. New drugs, better medical attention, and improved
sanitation and nutrition have more than doubled the average life span in industrial nations within
the past century. Machines have released us from much of the backbreaking labor that in
previous ages absorbed most of people's time and energy. The ancient dream of a life free from
famine and disease is beginning to be realized through technology. The standard of living of
low-income families in industrial societies has doubled in a generation, even though relative
incomes have changed little. Many people in developing nations now look on technology as
their principal source of hope.
2. Opportunity for Choice. Individual choice has a wider scope today than ever before
because technology has produced new options not previously available and a greater range of
products and services. Social and geographical mobility allow a greater choice of jobs and
locations. In an urban industrial society, a person's options are not as limited by parental or
community expectations as they were in a small-town agrarian society. The dynamism of
technology can liberate people from static and confining traditions to assume responsibility for
their own lives. Birth control techniques, for example, allow a couple to choose the size and
timing of their family.

3. More Leisure. Increases in productivity have led to shorter working hours. Computers
and automation hold the promise of eliminating much of the monotonous work typical of earlier
industrialism. Through most of history, leisure and cultural pursuits have been the privilege of
the few, while the mass of humanity was preoccupied with survival. In an wealthy society there
is time for continuing education, the arts, social service, sports, and participation in community
life. Technology can contribute to the enrichment of human life and the flowering of creativity.
Labor saving devices free us to do what machines cannot do. Proponents of this viewpoint say
that people can move behind materialism when their material needs are met.

4. Improved Communications. With new forms of transportation, one can in a few

hours travel to distant cities that once took months to reach. With electronic technologies (radio,
television, computer networks, and so on), the speed, range, and scope of communication have
vastly increased. The combination of visual images and auditory message have an immediacy
not found in the linear sequence of the printed words in newspapers. These new media offer the
possibility of instant worldwide communication, greater interaction, understanding, and mutual
appreciation in the “global village.” At present, through the different social network sites, citizens
could already participate in an instant debate on political issues or any other issues they may
feel they are involve. Technology brings psychological and social benefits as well as material
progress.

Science and Technology and the Good Life

Science and Technology also takes part on the achievement of a good life. Today, we
cannot expect our life without science and technology revolving around it every single
second. Science and technology are extremely essential in our everyday life as they have made
things more simple, fast and secured. They are the means that provide us with ways and
objects that help us live a better life. As discussed, you can list as many as possible benefits of
science and technology to humans helping us live a good life. Technology provides us higher
living standards, opportunity for choices, more leisure and improved communications, all of
which leading humans to an easier and enjoyable life. With all these, let us remember to not
depend on these too much, maximize its use but not abuse it, as it pose not just advantages but
also harms to human race.

ACTIVITIES/ASSESSMENT:

Activity 1. Collect at least 5 packaging of foods with Nutri Facts. Accomplish the table below.
1 2 3 4 5
Name of product
Amount per pack
Serving size
Amount of sugar in
grams
Amount of sodium
in milligrams
Unknown/unfamilia
r ingredient/s

Questions:
1. Do you usually read the Nutrition facts of the food labels?
2. Did you expect that the products contain that amount of sugars?
3. Why do you think is the importance of reading the label of the food products?
4. What will happen if you eat too much salty and sugary foods?

Activity 2. Watch the documentary then answer the questions below.

The Secrets of Sugar the Fifth Estate CBC News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxYI8QdfJ7g&t=1157s

Guide questions:
1. What are the terms used in some food labels, use to hide the presence of sugars in
their products?
2. What are the diseases that one can acquire in consuming too sugary foods?
3. Why would manufacturers use too much sugar in their products?

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. Does technology really lead us to a good life?