GOOD LIFE - Flourishing life filled with meaningful endeavors

that empower the human person to be the best

In Ancient Greece, long before the word "science" has
version of himself/herself
been coined, the need to understand the world and reality
was bound with the need to understand the self and the - Compared to his teacher and predecessor, Plato,
good life. Aristotle embarked on a different approach in
figuring out reality.
For Plato, the task of understanding the things in the
world runs parallel with the job of truly getting into - In contrast to Plato who thought that things in
what will make the soul flourish. this world are not real and are only copies of the
real in the world of forms, Aristotle puts
In an attempt to understand reality and the external world,
everything back to the ground in claiming that
man must seek to understand himself, too.
this world is all there is to it and that this world is
• It was Aristotle who gave a definitive distinction the only reality we can all access.
between the theoretical and practical sciences.
- For Plato, change is so perplexing that it can only
• Among the theoretical disciplines, Aristotle make sense if there are two realities: the world
included logic, biology, physics, and of forms and the world of matter.
metaphysics, among others. Among the practical
- Consider the human person. When you try to see
ones Aristotle counted ethics and politics.
yourself in front of the mirror, you normally say
• Whereas "truth" is the aim of the theoretical and think that you are looking at yourself-that is,
sciences, the "good" is the end goal of the you are the person who slept last night and you
practical ones. are the same person looking at yourself now,
despite the occasional changes like a new pimple
• Every attempt to know is connected in some way that grows on your nose.
in an attempt to find the good or as said in the
previous lesson, the attainment of human - The same is true for a seed that you threw out of
flourishing. Rightly so, one must find the truth the garden last month. When you peek into the
about what the good is before one can even try to same patch of land where the seed ingrained
locate that which is good. itself into, you may be surprised to see a little
plant showing itself to you and to the sun.
Aristotle – ancient Greek philosopher
- Plato recognized change as a process and as a
- Known for his natural philosophy, logic and phenomenon that happens in the world, that in
political theory fact, it is constant. However, Plato also claims
- One of the greatest thinkers in the history of that despite the reality of change, things remain,
western science and philosophy, making and they retain their ultimate "whatness"; that
contribution to logic, metaphysics, mathematics, you remain to be you despite the pimple that now
physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics, sits atop your nose.
agriculture, medicine, dance and theatre
- First to classify areas of human knowledge into - Plato was convinced that reality is full of these
distinct disciplines such as math, biology, and seemingly contrasting manifestations of change
ethics and permanence.
- Founder of the Lyceum, the first scientific
- For Plato, this can only be explained by
institute, based in Athens, Greece
postulating two aspects of reality, two worlds if
- One of the strongest advocates of a liberal arts
you wish: the world of forms and the world of
education, which stresses the education of the
matter.
whole person, including one’s moral character,
rather than merely learning a set of skills. - In the world of matter, things are changing and
Nicomachean Ethics impermanent.

All human activities aim at some good. Every art and - In the world of forms, the entities are only copies
human inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is of the ideal and the models, and the forms are the
thought to aim at some good: and for this reason the good only real entities. Things are red in this world
has been rightly declared as that at which all things aim. because they participate in what it means to be
red in the world of forms.
What is meant by good ife?
- Aristotle, for his part. disagreed with his
- Living in comfort and luxury with few problems teacher's position and forwarded the idea that
or worries there is no reality over and above can perceive.
- Characterized by happiness from living and As such, it is only by observation of the external
doing well won one can truly understand what reality is all
- Content about. Change is a pro is inherent in things. We,
along with all other entities in the world, start as
What is eudimonia? potentialities and move toward actualities. The
movement, of course entails change.
- Came from the Greek word “eu” meaning
“good” and “daimon” meaning spirit - Consider a seed that eventually germinates and
- Refers to the good life marked by happiness and grows into a plant. The seed that turned to
excellence become the plant underwent change from the
 potential plant that is the seed to its full actuality, - When a boy asks for a burger from a Filipino
the plant burger joint, the action that he takes is motivated
primarily by the purpose that he has, inferably to
ARISTOTLE’SVIEW OF GOOD LIFE
get full or to taste the burger that he only sees on
- The activity of the soul in accordance with virtue TV.
- Believed that good for humans is the maximum - When a girl tries to finish her degree in the
realization of what was unique to humans university, despite the initial failures she may
- The good for humans was reason well have had, she definitely is being propelled by a
- The task of reason was to teach humans how to higher purpose than to just graduate.
act virtuously, and the exercise faculties in
accordance with virtue - She wants something more, maybe to have a
license and land a promising job in the future.
VIRTUE/S Every human person, according to Aristotle,
- Behavior showing high moral standards aspires for an end.
- “paragons of virtue” - This end, we have learned from the previous
- Synonyms. Goodness, virtuousness, chapters, is happiness or human flourishing.
righteousness, morality, ethicalness, uprightness,
upstandingness, integrity, dignity, rectitude, - No individual-young or old, fat or skinny, male
honesty, honorableness, honorability, honor, or female-resists happiness. We all want to be
decency, worthiness, happy. Aristotle claims that happiness is the be
all and end all of everything that we do. We may
THE VIRTUE not realize it but the end goal of everything that
we do is happiness.
Intellectual virtue
- If you ask one person why he is doing what he is
- Theoretical wisdom( thinking and truth)
doing, he may not read he may not readily say
- Practical wisdom
that it is happiness that motivates him.
- Understanding . Experience and time are
necessary requirements for the development of - Hard-pressed to explain why he is motivated by
intellectual virtue what motivates him will reveal that happiness is
the grand, motivating force in everything that he
Moral Virtue
does. When Aristotle claims that we want to be
- Controlled by practical wisdom (ability to make happy, he does not necessarily mean the
right judgment) everyday happiness that we obtain when we win
- Owed its development to how one nurtured it as a competition, or we eat our favorite dish in a
habit restaurant.
- Can be learned
- What Aristotle actually means is human
HAPPINESS TO ARISTOTLE flourishing, a kind of contentment in knowing
that one is getting the best out of life. A kind of
-“Happiness depends on ourselves” feeling that one has maxed out his potentials in
the world, that he has attained the crux of his
- central purpose of human life and a goal in itself
humanity.
-depends on the cultivation of virtue
- Happiness as the Goal of a Good Life
- a genuinely happy life required the fulfillment of a broad
- In the eighteenth century, John Stuart Mill
range of conditions, including physical as well as mental
well-being declared the Greatest Happiness Principle by
saying that an action is right as far as it
HAPPINESS AS THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF maximizes the attainment of happiness for the
HUMAN EXISTENCE greatest number of people.

- Happiness is a final end or goal that encompasses - At a time when people were skeptical about
the totality of one’s life claims on the metaphysical, people could not
- It is not something that can be gained or lost in a make sense of the human flourishing that
few hours, like pleasurable sensations Aristotle talked about in the days of old.
- It is more like the ultimate value of your life as
- Mill said that individual happiness of each
lived up to this moment, measuring how well
individual should be prioritized and collectively
you have lived up to your full potential as a
dictates the kind of action that should be
human being
endorsed.
- Aristotle extends this analysis from the external
- Consider the pronouncements against mining.
world into the province of the human person and
When an action benefits the greatest number of
declares that even human beings are
people, said action is deemed ethical.
potentialities who aspire for their actuality.
- Does mining benefit rather than hurt the
- Every human being moves according to some
majority? Does it offer more benefits rather than
end. Every action that emanates from a human
disadvantages?
person is a function of the purpose (telos) that
the person has.
 - Does mining result in more people getting happy
rather than sad? If the answers to the said
questions are in the affirmative, then the said
action, mining, is deemed ethical.

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 help and individual to be
out of danger