Science, Technology, and Society

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Eudaimonia

Module on
7 Eudaimonia

This module on the course Science, Technology and Society provides a discussion on the meaning
of happiness and the purpose of different being as identified by Aristotle in his view on hierarchy of beings.
He also identified their purpose. This module also present the different theories of happiness.

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

1. Define happiness;
2. Illustrate Aristotle's vision of hierarchy of being; and
3. Analyze the different Theories of Happiness.

Reading Activity: Carefully examine the images and paragraphs from the YouTube video entitled Why
‘Happiness’ is a useless word – and an alternative by The School of Life.
“Eudaimonia is an Ancient Greek word, particularly emphasised by the philosophers Plato and
Aristotle, that deserves wider currency because it corrects the shortfalls in one of the most central,
governing but insufficient terms in our contemporary idiom: happiness. When we nowadays try to
articulate the purpose of our lives, it is to the word happiness we commonly have recourse. We tell
ourselves and others that the ultimate rationale for our jobs, our relationships and the conduct of our day
to day lives is the pursuit of happiness. It sounds like an innocent enough idea, but excessive reliance on
the term means that we are frequently unfairly tempted to exit or at least heavily question a great many
testing but worthwhile situations. The Ancient Greeks resolutely did not believe that the purpose of life
was to be happy; they proposed that it was to achieve Eudaimonia, a word which has been best translated
as ‘fulfilment’. What distinguishes happiness from fulfilment is pain. It is eminently possible to be fulfilled
and – at the same time – under pressure, suffering physically or mentally, overburdened and, quite
frequently, in a tetchy mood. This is a psychological nuance that the word happiness makes it hard to
capture; for it is tricky to speak of being happy yet unhappy or happy yet suffering. However, such a
combination is readily accommodated within the dignified and noble-sounding letters of Eudaimonia. The
word encourages us to trust that many of life’s most worthwhile projects will at points be quite at odds
with contentment and yet worth pursuing nevertheless.

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Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GocIobQ9MLs

Properly exploring our professional talents, managing a household, keeping a relationship going,
creating a new business venture or engaging in politics… none of these goals are likely to leave us cheerful
and grinning on a daily basis. They will, in fact, involve us in all manner of challenges that will deeply exhaust
and ennervate us, provoke and wound us. And yet we will perhaps, at the end of our lives, still feel that the
tasks were worth undertaking. Through them, we’ll have accessed something grander and more
interesting than happiness: we’ll have made a difference. With the word Eudaimonia in mind, we can stop
imagining that we are aiming for a pain-free existence – and then berating ourselves unfairly for being in
a bad mood. We’ll know that we are trying to do something far more important than smile: we’re striving
to do justice to our full human potential and to work in some small but key way towards the improvement
of our species.”

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Happiness as the Ultimate Purpose of Human Existence

One of Aristotle's most influential works is the Nicomachean Ethics, where he presents a theory
of happiness that is still relevant today, over 2,300 years later. The key question Aristotle seeks to answer
in these lectures is "What is the ultimate purpose of human existence?" What is that end or goal for which
we should direct all of our activities? Everywhere we see people seeking pleasure, wealth, and a good
reputation. But while each of these has some value, none of them can occupy the place of the chief good
for which humanity should aim. To be an ultimate end, an act must be self-sufficient and final, "that which
is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else", and it must be attainable by man.
Aristotle claims that nearly everyone would agree that happiness is the end which meets all these
requirements. It is easy enough to see that we desire money, pleasure, and honor only because we believe
that these goods will make us happy. It seems that all other goods are a means towards obtaining
happiness, while happiness is always an end in itself.

The Greek word that usually gets translated as "happiness" is eudaimonia, and like most
translations from ancient languages, this can be misleading. The main trouble is that happiness is often
conceived of as a subjective state of mind, as when one says one is happy when one is enjoying a cool beer
on a hot day, or is out "having fun" with one's friends. For Aristotle, however, happiness is a final end or
goal that encompasses the totality of one's life. It is not something that can be gained or lost in a few hours,
like pleasurable sensations. It is more like the ultimate value of your life as lived up to this moment,
measuring how well you have lived up to your full potential as a human being. For this reason, one cannot
really make any pronouncements about whether one has lived a happy life until it is over. For the same
reason we cannot say that children are happy, any more than we can say that an acorn is a tree, for the
potential for a flourishing human life has not yet been realized. As Aristotle says, "for as it is not one
swallow or one fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes a man blessed
and happy."

The Hierarchical View of Nature

Aristotle's vision of the hierarchy of beings

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In order to explain human happiness, Aristotle draws on a view of nature he derived from his
biological investigations. If we look at nature, we notice that there are four different kinds of things that
exist in the world, each one defined by a different purpose:

1. Mineral: rocks, metals and other lifeless things. The only goal which these things seek is to come
to a rest. They are "beyond stupid" since they are inanimate objects with no soul

2. Vegetative: plants and other wildlife. Here we see a new kind of thing emerge, something which is
alive. Because plants seek nourishment and growth, they have souls and can be even said to be
satisfied when they attain these goals

3. Animal: all the creatures we study as belonging to the animal kingdom. Here we see a higher level
of life emerge: animals seek pleasure and reproduction, and we can talk about a happy or sad dog,
for example, to the extent that they are healthy and lead a pleasant life

4. Human: what is it that makes human beings different from the rest of the animal kingdom?
Aristotle answers: Reason. Only humans are capable of acting according to principles, and in so
doing taking responsibility for their choices. We can blame Johnny for stealing the candy since he
knows it is wrong, but we would not blame an animal since it doesn't know any better.
It seems that our unique function is to reason: by reasoning things out we attain our ends, solve
our problems, and hence live a life that is qualitatively different in kind from plants or animals. The good
for a human is different from the good for an animal because we have different capacities or potentialities.
We have a rational capacity and the exercising of this capacity is thus the perfecting of our natures as
human beings. For this reason, pleasure alone cannot constitute human happiness, for pleasure is what
animals seek and human beings have higher capacities than animals. The goal is not to annihilate our
physical urges, however, but rather to channel them in ways that are appropriate to our natures as rational
animals.
The Pursuit of Happiness as the Exercise of Virtue
According to Aristotle, happiness consists in achieving, through the course of a whole lifetime, all
the goods — health, wealth, knowledge, friends, etc. — that lead to the perfection of human nature and to
the enrichment of human life. This requires us to make choices, some of which may be very difficult. Often
the lesser good promises immediate pleasure and is more tempting, while the greater good is painful and
requires some sort of sacrifice. For example, it may be easier and more enjoyable to spend the night
watching television, but you know that you will be better off if you spend it researching for your term
paper. Developing a good character requires a strong effort of will to do the right thing, even in difficult
situations.

Aristotle would be strongly critical of the culture of "instant gratification" which seems to
predominate in our society today. In order to achieve the life of complete virtue, we need to make the right
choices, and this involves keeping our eye on the future, on the ultimate result we want for our lives as a
whole. We will not achieve happiness simply by enjoying the pleasures of the moment. Unfortunately, this
is something most people are not able to overcome in themselves. As he laments, "the mass of mankind
are evidently quite slavish in their tastes, preferring a life suitable to beasts". Later in the Ethics Aristotle
draws attention to the concept of akrasia, or weakness of the will. In many cases the overwhelming
prospect of some great pleasure obscures one's perception of what is truly good. Fortunately, this natural
disposition is curable through training, which for Aristotle meant education and the constant aim to
perfect virtue. As he puts it, a clumsy archer may indeed get better with practice, so long as he keeps
aiming for the target.

There is yet another activity few people engage in which is required to live a truly happy life,
according to Aristotle: intellectual contemplation. Since our nature is to be rational, the ultimate perfection
of our natures is rational reflection. This means having an intellectual curiosity which perpetuates that
natural wonder to know which begins in childhood but seems to be stamped out soon thereafter. For
Aristotle, education should be about the cultivation of character, and this involves a practical and a
theoretical component. The practical component is the acquisition of a moral character, as discussed
above. The theoretical component is the making of a philosopher. Here there is no tangible reward, but the

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critical questioning of things raises our minds above the realm of nature and closer to the abode of the
gods.

In conclusion, according to Aristotle, what is happiness?

• Happiness is the ultimate end and purpose of human existence
• Happiness is not pleasure, nor is it virtue. It is the exercise of virtue.
• Happiness cannot be achieved until the end of one's life. Hence it is a goal and not a temporary
state.
• Happiness is the perfection of human nature. Since man is a rational animal, human happiness
depends on the exercise of his reason.
• Happiness depends on acquiring a moral character, where one displays the virtues of courage,
generosity, justice, friendship, and citizenship in one's life. These virtues involve striking a balance
or "mean" between an excess and a deficiency.
• Happiness requires intellectual contemplation, for this is the ultimate realization of our rational
capacities.

Theories of Happiness
A. Hedonistic Theories

Hedonistic theories represent happiness as a ―balance of pleasure over pain. To avoid

terminological confusion, it should be made clear at this point that ‘hedonism‘ as used in philosophy
ordinarily refers to something other than hedonism about psychological happiness. Two other basic types
of hedonism exist, namely, ethical hedonism (a normative theory) and psychological hedonism (a
descriptive theory). Ethical hedonists maintain that one should seek pleasure or that pleasure is the only
thing worth seeking. Psychological hedonists claim that pleasure is the only thing that humans (and
presumably other creatures) ever do seek.

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B. Life-satisfaction Theories

Life-satisfaction and desire-satisfaction theories comprise a second category of theories of

happiness. These two types of theories are very difficult to distinguish from each other. Desire-
satisfaction theories describe happiness as the satisfaction of certain central desires (rarely do its
proponents claim implausibly that happiness is the satisfaction of all desires) for one‘s life. Life-
satisfaction theories describe happiness as the satisfaction of certain standards or goals for one‘s life.
Well, this is really describing the same process: when we have standards or goals for our lives, we desire
their satisfaction or attainment, and when we have a central desire for our lives, then inherent in this
desire is a goal or a standard towards which we strive. For this reason the two types of theories are
structurally identical, and simply describe this process either from the perspective of the end-state that
is achieved (satisfaction of a standard or standards for one‘s life), or from the perspective of the desire
that is extinguished through the satisfaction of the standard.

Just as physical pleasure or pain could result in positive or negative affect, it seems that the
satisfaction of these central desires could result in happiness, but the satisfaction is not itself happiness,
even if it always were to result in happiness.

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Name: _________________________________ Course & Section: __________________

A. Identification.
Instructions: Read each situation below. Write E if it demonstrates eudaimonia or H if it demonstrates
Hedonia.
1. A person feels a sense of purpose after helping his barangay.
2. Catherine feels happy after buying new shoes.
3. Jose is always satisfied after a big meal.
4. Elena feels much better when she learns new solutions to difficult problems.
5. Lino feels happier when he is with his family.
6. Shena always makes a point to contribute to the community fund.
7. Some rest and recreation makes us feel more energized.
8. Joanna likes to go dancing with her friends every weekend.
9. Zoe exercises regularly to keep healthy.
10. Mrs. Santos, a writer, writes every morning because it makes her more relaxed.
B. Answer the following:
Directions: Based on the lecture, choose three main definition of happiness according to Aristotle.
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C. Answer the following:
Directions: Draw an example of a thing from Aristotle's vision of Hierarchy of being and provide its
purpose.

Human

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Animal

Vegetative

Non- living/ Mineral

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D. Direction: Write an EXAMPLE on how to attain the happiness according to the following theories.

1. Hedonistic Theories

2. Life-satisfaction Theories

Name: _________________________________ Course & Section: __________________

A. Suppose you need to explain the concept of “happiness” to a group of aliens. Write a 100+ word essay
to explain how you will do this.
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B. Answer the following
1. What are the component on Aristotle’s view on Aristotle's vision of Hierarchy of being and their
purpose?
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2. What is the difference between Hedonistic Theories and Life-satisfaction Theories?

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Name: _________________________________ Course & Section: __________________

A. Identification.
Instructions: Read each situation below. Write HT if it demonstrates the hedonistic theory of
happiness or LST if it demonstrates life-satisfaction theory of happiness.
1. When we feel happy after eating a good meal.
2. When a person feels satisfied after watching a movie.
3. When we are happy to have passed an exam.
4. When we feel better after exercising.
5. When a person feels happier helping other people.
6. When leisurely reading gives us happiness.
7. When shopping makes one happy.
8. When a walk by the beach makes one happy.
9. When a person can’t wait to serve her community members.
10. When a person wants to go on a vacation to feel better.

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B. Answer the following:
Direction: Provide a picture of each item that is asked below. Paste the image inside its respective box.

1. Aristotle

2. Aristotle's vision of Hierarchy of being

Human

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Animal

Plants

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Mineral

3. Human experiencing happiness according to Hedonistic Theories

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4. Human experiencing happiness according to Hedonistic Theories

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Name: _________________________________ Course & Section: __________________

Multiple choice.
Instructions: Read each sentence or phrase carefully, select the best answer among the choices and write
beside the number or encircle the letter of the correct answer.
1. According to Aristotle, what is a final end or goal that encompasses the totality of one's life and
consists in achieving, through the course of a whole lifetime?
A. Potential
B. Happiness
C. Nature
D. Human
2. What thing according to Aristotle’s view of Nature do rocks, metals and other lifeless things belongs?
A. Mineral
B. Vegetative
C. Animal
D. Human

3. What theories represent happiness as a ―balance of pleasure over pain?

A. Life-satisfaction theories
B. Desire-satisfaction theories
C. Hedonistic theories
D. Eudaimonia

4. What thing according to Aristotle’s view of Nature is capable of acting according to principles, and in
so doing taking responsibility for their choices?
A. Human
B. Animal
C. Vegetative
D. Mineral
5. What is the Greek word for "happiness"?
A. Geluk
B. Bonheur
C. Hookahuia
D. Eudaimonia
6. What theories describe happiness as the satisfaction of certain standards or goals for one‘s life?
A. Desire-satisfaction theories
B. Hedonistic theories
C. Life-satisfaction theories
D. Nicomachean Ethics
7. What is one of Aristotle's most influential works where he presents a theory of happiness?
A. Hedonistic theories
B. Nicomachean Ethics
C. The Hierarchical View of Nature
D. Life-satisfaction theories
8. What did Aristotle created to explain human happiness based on his biological investigation which
noted four different king of thigs?
A. Nicomachean Ethics
B. Eudaimonia
C. Desire-satisfaction theories
D. The Hierarchical View of Nature

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9. How many years have passed since Aristotle presented the theory of happiness from the
Nicomachean Ethics?
A. 3,300
B. 2,300
C. 3,200
D. 5,300
10. What theories describe happiness as the satisfaction of certain central desires for one‘s life?
A. Nicomachean theories
B. Hedonistic theories
C. Life-satisfaction theories
D. Desire-satisfaction theories

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