Good Life

• The Good Life


  The pursuit of a life that makes one happy and content
• Everyone is in pursuit of a good life
• People's definition of the good life may vary and differ in the particulars
• There are universal truths about the good life that cuts across our differences
• Nicomachean Ethics


  An important work by the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) that attempted to explain what is good
• Aristotle: '"All human activities aim at some good. Every art and human inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has been rightly declared as that at which all things aim" (Nicomachean Ethics 2:2)'
• Everyone is moving towards the good
• Every activity is an expression and manifestation of this good
• The good life


  Characterized by happiness that springs from living and doing well
• Aristotle: '"…both the many and the cultivated call it happiness, and suppose that living well and doing well are the same as being happy"(Nicomachean Ethics 1:4)'
• Eudaimonia


  In Ancient Greek, the concept of "living well and doing well" which refers to the good life marked by happiness and excellence
• Eudaimonia


  eu meaning "good" and daimon meaning "spirit"
• Eudaimonia


  • Flourishing life with meaningful endeavors that empowers a person to be the best version of himself/herself
• Best versions of oneself

  • As a student - studying well and fulfilling the demands of school
  • As an athlete - training hard, joining and winning a sports competition
• Happiness


  According to Aristotle, the ultimate end of human action that people pursue for its own sake
• Happiness


  • Financial stability for one's family
  • Winning election
  • Receiving rewards for taking care of the environment
• Aristotle: '"Now such a thing as happiness above all else, is held to be; for this we choose always for itself and not for the sake of something else, but honor, pleasure, reason and every virtue we choose indeed for themselves, but we choose them also for the sake of happiness, judging that by means of them we shall be happy. Happiness, on the other hand, no one choose for anything other than itself" (Nicomachean Ethics 2:7)'
• Happiness


  Defines a good life, but not the kind that comes from sensate pleasure, rather the kind that comes from living a life of virtue, a life of excellence
• Aristotle: '"It is the activities that express virtue that control happiness, and the contrary activities that controls its contrary." (Nicomachean Ethics 1:10)'
• Virtuous activities


  • Avoiding sugary and processed foods to keep healthy
  • Taking care of the environment through proper waste management
• Virtuous actions require discipline and practice
• Activities contrary to virtue

  • Lack of discipline in eating healthy food
  • Lack of concern for the environment
• Virtue


  • The excellence of character that empowers one to do good and be good
  • Cultivated with habit and discipline, not a one-time deed but a constant and consistent series of actions
• Aristotle: '"Virtue, then being of two kinds, intellectual and moral, intellectual virtue in the main owns its birth and growth to teaching (for which reason it requires experience and time), while moral virtue comes about as result of habit" (Nicomachean Ethics 2:1)'
• The onward progress of science and technology is also the movement towards the good life
• Science and Technology are one of the highest expression of human faculties
• Science and Technology may corrupt a person, but grounding oneself in virtue will help him/her steer clear of danger