THE GOOD

LIFE
 Learning
• Understand what
is a good life
• Understand what
is human

objectives:
existence
• Understand what
is public good
What is a good
life?
Introduction
• In Ancient Greece before the word “science”, 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. (Man must seek to understand himself too.)
• According to Aristotle, “Truth” is the aim of the theoretical sciences,
the “good” is the end goal of the practical ones. (One must find the
truth about what the good is before one can even try to locate that
which is good.)
 ARISTOTLE
The first philosopher who approached the problem PLATO
of reality from a scientific lens, also the first thinker
who dabbled into the complex problematization
of the end goal of life: Happiness.
• He puts everything back to the ground in claiming that • He thought that things in this world are not real and are
this world is all there is to it and that this world is the only copies of the real in the world of forms.
only reality we can all access. • Change is so perplexing that it can only make sense if there
• There is no reality over and above what the senses can are two realities: the world of forms and the world of
perceive. It is only by observation of the external world matter.
that one can truly understand what reality is all about. • He recognized change as a process and a phenomenon that
• Change is a process that is inherent in things. It starts as happens in the world, that is constant.
potentialities and move toward actualities. The • He also claims that despite the reality of change, things
movement also entails change. remain to be you despite all the changes happened.
• He extends the external world into the province of a • He was convinced that reality is full of these seemingly
human person and declares that even human beings are contrasting manifestation of change and permanence.
potentialities who aspire for their actuality. Every action
that emanates from a human person is a function of the
purpose (telos) that the person has.
• Every human person aspires for an end which we have
learned, Happiness or Human Flourishing.
• Materialism Other philosophies
• Hedonism
• Stoicism that relate Good
• Theism
• Humanism Life and Human
Flourishing
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 need to suggest 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 of 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 adopted 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.
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 or 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.
• Scientists eventually turned to technology in order to ease the difficulty of
life as illustrated in the previous lessons.
Humanism
• 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.
What is human
existence?
For Heidegger, the meaning of human existence can only be attained when
man lives his life authentically. Authentic can be achieved by undertaking this
process:
• As man owns his existence, he must project his possibilities; man must
make himself.
• As man makes himself, he must experience dread, care, concern, and guilt.
Besides, man must listen to the voice of conscience so that he can resolve
to live authentically.
• With man’s resolute decision to live authentically, man must accept death as
his own most inevitable possibility.
For Heidegger, the meaning of human existence can only be attained when
man lives his life authentically. Authentic can be achieved by undertaking this
process:
• As man owns his existence, he must project his possibilities; man must
make himself.
• As man makes himself, he must experience dread, care, concern, and guilt.
Besides, man must listen to the voice of conscience so that he can resolve
to live authentically.
• With man’s resolute decision to live authentically, man must accept death as
his own most inevitable possibility.
For Keikegard, man can achieve a meaningful existence when he liberates
himself for his “crowd-existence.” This liberation is possible if man lives not
only in his aesthetic mode of existence but also in the ethical and religious
modes
For Jasper, the attainment of the meaning of human existence is possible when
man is seen as a whole or as the “encompassing.” seen this way, man can be
the encompassing when he sees himself as an existent being, as a conscious
being, as a spirit, and as existence.
For Frankl, man can find meaning in his existence in a threefold manner,
namely;
• By doing a life-project
• By experiencing value, particularly in the context of love; and
• By finding meaning in suffering
What is public
good?
What is public good?
In economics, a public good refers to a commodity or service that is made
available to all members of society. Typically, these services are administered
by governments and paid for collectively through taxation.
Examples of public goods include law enforcement, national defense, and the
rule of law. Public goods also refer to more basic goods, such as access to
clean air and drinking water.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Public goods are commodities or services that benefit all members of
society, and which are often provided for free through public taxation.
• Public goods are the opposite of private goods, which are inherently scarce
and are paid for separately by individuals.
• Societies will disagree about which goods should be considered public
goods; these differences are often reflected in nations’ government
spending priorities.
How Public Goods Work
The two main criteria that distinguish a public good are that it must be non-
rivalrous and non-excludable. Non-rivalrous means that the goods do not
dwindle in supply as more people consume them; non-excludability means
that the good is available to all citizens.