CHAPTER 111

Lesson 7: THE GOOD LIFE

 Aristotle and How We All Aspire for a Good Life

 Happiness as the Goal of a Good Life
 Materialism
 Hedonism
 Stoicism
 Theism
 Humanism

Learning outcomes:

 examine what is meant by a good life;

 identify how humans attempt to attain what is deemed to be a good life;
and
 recognize possibilities available to human being to attain the good life.

No. of Hours to complete : 2 Hours

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 ENABLING ACTIVITY

TITLE : BRAINSTORMING ACTIVITY

TIME : 10 minutes
MATERIALS : Worksheet and pen

Direction: Find out more about these technology-related industries how does it involves. Write
your answers in the space provided.

1. What is Good Life?

2. What is the relationship between the good life and science?.

3. Does technology lead us to the good life? How and Why?.

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Topic Discussion:

INTRODUCTION

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 understanding 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. It was Aristotle who gave a definitive distinction
between the theoretical and practical sciences. Among the theoretical disciplines, Aristotle
included logic, biology, physics, and metaphysics, among others. Among the practical ones,
Aristotle counted ethics and politics. Whereas "truth" is the aim of the theoretical sciences, the
"good is the end goal of the practical ones. Every attempt to know is connected in some way in an
attempt to find the "good" or as said in the previous lesson, the attainment of human flourishing.
Rightly so, one must find the truth about what the good is before one can even try to locate that
which is good.

In the previous lesson, we have seen how a misplaced or an erroneous idea of human
flourishing can turn tables for all of us, make the Sciences work against us rather than for us, and
draw a chasm between the search for truth and for the good. In this lesson, we endeavor to go
back a little and answer these questions: What does it really mean to live a good life? What
qualifies as a good existence? Granting this understanding, we are assumed to be in a better
position to reconcile our deepest existential needs as human beings and science as tool to
maneuver around the world.

Aristotle and How We All Aspire for a Good Life

It is interesting to note that the first philosopher who approached the problem of reality
from a "scientific" lens as we know now, is also the first thinker who dabbled into the complex
problematization of the end goal of life: happiness. This man is none other than Aristotle

Compared to his teacher and predecessor, Plato, Aristotle embarked on a different

approach in figuring out reality In contrast to Plato who thought that things in this world are not real
and are only copies of the real in the world of forms, Aristotle puts everything back to the ground in
claiming that this world is all there is to it and that this world is the only reality we can all access.
For Plato, change is so perplexing that it can only make sense if there are two realities: the world
of forms and the world of mater. Consider the human person. When you try to see yourself in front
of the mirror, you normally say and think that you are looking at yourself-hat is, you are the person
who slept last night and you are the same person looking at yourself now, despite the occasional
changes like a new pimple that grows on your nose. 1he same is true for a seed that you threw out
of the garden last month. When you peek into the same patch of land where the seed ingrained
itself into, you may be surprised see a little plant showing itself O you and to the sun. Plato
recognized change as a process and as a phenomenon that happens in the world, that constant.
However, Plato also claims that despite the reality goal of life: happiness. This man is none other

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than Aristotle of change, things remain and they retain their ultimate "whatness", that you remain to
be you despite the pimple that now sits atop your nose Plato was convinced that reality is full of
these manifestations of change and permanence. For Plato, this can only explained by
postulating two aspects of reality, two worlds it you wish: the world of forms and the world of
mater. In the world of matter, things are changing and impermanent. In the world of forms, the
entities are only copies of the ideal and the models, and the forms are the only real entities.
Things are red in this world because they participate in what it means to be red in the world of
forms.

Aristotle, for his part, disagreed with his teacher's position and 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 al other entities in the world, start as potentialities and
move toward actualities. The movement, of course, entails change. Consider a seed that
eventually germinates and grows into a plant. The seed that turned to become the plant underwent
change from the potential plant that is ne seed to its full actuality, the plant

Aristotle extends this analysis from the external world into the province of the human
person and declares that even human beings are potentialities who aspire for their actuality. Every
human being moves according to some end Every action that emanates from a human person 1s a
function of the purpose (telos) that the person has When a boy asks for a burger from a Filipino
burger joint, the action that he takes is motivated primarily by the purpose that he has, inferably to
get ful or to taste the burger that he only sees on TV When a girl tries to finish her degree in the
university, despite the initial failures she may have had, she definitely is being propelled by a
higher purpose than to just graduate. She wants something more, maybe to have a license and
land a promising job in the future Every human person, according to Aristotle, aspires for an end.
This end, we have learned from the previous chapters, Is happiness or human flourishing.

No individual-young or old, fat or skinny, male or female-resists happiness. We all want

to be happy. Aristotle claims that happiness is the be all and end all of everything that we do. We
may not realize it but the end goal of everything that we do Is happiness. If you ask one person
why he is doing what he is doing, he may not readily say that it is happiness that motivates him
Hard-pressed to explain why he is motivated by what motivates him will reveal that happiness is
the grand, motivating force in everything that he does. When Aristotle claims that we want to be
happy, he does not necessarily mean the everyday happiness that we obtain when we win a
competition or we eat our favorite dish in a restaurant. What Aristotle actually means is human
flourishing, a kind of contentment in knowing that one is getting the best out of life. A kind of feeling
that one has maxed out his potentials in the world, that he has attained the crux of his humanity

Happiness as the Goal of a Good Life

In the eighteenth century, John Stuart Mill declared the Greatest Happiness Principle by
saying that an action is right as far as it maxımizes the attainment of happiness for the greatest
number of people. At a time when people were skeptical about claims on the metaphysical, people

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could not make sense of the human flourishing that Aristotle talked about in the days of old Mill
said that individual happiness of each individual should be prioritized and collectively dictates the
kind of action that should be endorsed. Consider the pronouncements against mining When an
action benefits the greatest number of people, said action is deemed ethical Does mining benefit
rather than hurt the majority? Does it offer more benefits rather than disadvantages? 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.

The ethical is, of course, meant to lead us to the good and happy life. Through the ages,
as has been expounded in the previous chapters, man has constantly struggled with the external
world in order to reach human flourishing. History has given birth to different schools of thought, all
of which aim for the good and happy life.

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. For Democritus and his disciples, the world including
human beings, is made up of matter. There is no neccd to posit immaterial entities as sources of
purpose Atomos simply comes together randomly to form the things in the world As such, only
material entities matter In terms ot human flourishing, matter is what makes us attain happiness.
We see this at work with most people who are clinging on to material wealth as the primary source
of the meaning of their existence.

Hedonism
The hedonists, for their part, see the end goal of life in acquiring pleasure. Pleasure has
always been the priority of hedonists. For them, life IS about obtaining and indulging in pleasure
because life is limited. The mantra of this school of thought is the famous, "Eat, drink, and be merry
for tomorrow we die Led by Epicurus, this school of thought also does not buy any notion of
afterlife just like the materialists.

Stoicism
Another school of thought led by Epicurus, the stoics espoused the idea that to generate
happiness, one must learn to distance oneself and be apathetic. The original term, apatheia,
precisely means to be indifferent.

For the stoics, happiness can only be attained by a careful practice of apathy. We
should, in this worldview, adopt the fact that some things are not within our control. The sooner we
realize this, the happier we can become.

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Theism

Most people find the meaning of their lives using God as a fulcrum of their existence. The
Philippines, as a predominantly Catholic 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. 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.

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. Inspired by the enlightenment in
seventeenth century, humanists see themselves not merely as stewards of the creation but as
individuals who are in control of themselves and the world outside them. This is the spirit of most
scientists who thought that the world Is a place and space for freely unearthing the world in seeking
for ways on how to improve the lives of its inhabitants.

As a result of the motivation of the humanist current, scientists eventually turned to

technology in order to ease the difficulty of life as illustrated in the previous lessons. 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. Social media, as an example, has been so far a very effective way of employing
technology in purging time and space. Not very long ago, communication between two people from
two continents in the planet will involve months of waiting for a mail to arrive. Seeing each other
real time while talking was virtually impossible. Now, communication between two people wherever
they are, is not just possible but easy. The Internet and smart phones made real-time
communication possible not just between two people, but even with multiple people
simultaneously.

Technology allowed us to tinker with our sexuality Biologically male individuals can now
undergo medical operation if they so wish for sexual reassignment, Breast implants are now
available and can be done with relative convenience if anyone wishes to have one. Hormones may
also be injected in order to alter the sexual chemicals in the body.

Whether or not we agree with these technological advancements, these are all
undertaken in the hopes of attaining the good life The balance however, between the good life,
ethics, and technology has to be attained.

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  MAIN TASK
TITLE : COMPARE AND CONTRAST
TIME : 15 minutes
MATERIALS : Worksheet and pen

Direction: Identify two modes of doing the same thing where one involves a more
technologically advanced method Example would be snail mail vs. e-mail List down as
many examples. Brainstorm with a partner if a less technologically sophisticated
mechanism can actually turn out to be better in terms of reaching for the good life. Is the
more technologically advanced always better?

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

SNAIL MAIL BOTH E-MAIL

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 SUMMARY

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, man 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 seventeenth century that happiness became a
centerpiece in the lives of people, even becoming a full-blown ethical foundation in John Stuart
Mill's utilitarianism. At present, we see multitudes of schools of thought that all promise their own
key to finding happiness. 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 it really means to live a good life.

REINFORCEMENT

Good Life Collage. Cut out pictures in magazines or newspapers that demonstrate how
technology has made the man's desire for a happy life more realizable. You may also
opt to print out pictures from websites and other sources. Explain how these
technological advancements have made the campaign for the attainment of good life
easier or otherwise. Present it in class

REFERENCES:
Janice Patria Javier Serafica, et als. First Edition, 2018, Science, Technology, and Society,
Published by Rex BookStore.

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