STS CHAP 2

• According to Westacott (2018), there are three ways by which we can understand what is meant by "a good life" or "living well." These are the

  1. Moral Life
  2. Life of Pleasure
  3. Fulfilled Life
• The Moral Life

  One basic way in which we use the word "good" is to express moral approval.​
• Socrates and Plato both gave absolute priority to being a virtuous person over all other supposedly good things such as 


  pleasure, wealth, or power.​
• Socrates and Plato both gave absolute priority to being a virtuous person over all other supposedly good things such as pleasure, wealth, or power.

  The Moral Life
• Plato - ​He argues that it is much better to suffer wrong than to do it; that a good man who has his eyes gouged out and is tortured to death is more fortunate than a corrupt person who has uses wealth and power dishonorably.


  The Moral Life
• In his masterpiece, the Republic, Plato develops this argument in greater detail. The morally good person, he claims enjoys a sort of inner harmony, whereas the wicked person, no matter how rich and powerful he may be or how many pleasure he enjoys, is disharmonious, fundamentally at odds with himself and the world.
• Who said? Plato , the republic 


  The morally good person, he claims enjoys a sort of inner harmony, whereas the wicked person, no matter how rich and powerful he may be or how many pleasure he enjoys, is disharmonious, fundamentally at odds with himself and the world.
• Many religions also conceive of the good life in moral terms as a memo according to God's laws.
• Many religions also conceive of the good life in moral terms as a memo according to God's laws.

  The Moral Life
• Hindus expect that the law of karma will ensure that their good deeds and intentions will be rewarded, while evil actions and desires will be punished, either in this life or in future lives. The Moral Life
• Socrates and Plato both gave absolute priority to being a virtuous person over all other supposedly good things such as pleasure, wealth, or power.
• Hindus expect that the law of karma will ensure that their good deeds and intentions will be rewarded, while evil actions and desires will be punished, either in this life or in future lives.
• The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus was one of the first to declare, bluntly, that what makes life worth living is that we can experience pleasure.
• The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus was one of the first to declare, bluntly, that what makes life worth living is that we can experience pleasure.​

  The Life of Pleasure
• The word "hedonist," when applied to a person, has slightly negative connotations.
• The word "hedonist," when applied to a person, has slightly negative connotations.

  The Life of Pleasure
• "lower" pleasures such as

  sex, food, drink, and sensual indulgence in general.
• The "lower" pleasures such as sex, food, drink, and sensual indulgence in general.
• "lower" pleasures such as sex, food, drink, and sensual indulgence in general.

  1. sex
  2. food
  3. drink
  4. sensual indulgence in general.
• "epicure" is someone who is especially appreciative of food and drink.
• What is key to this hedonistic conception of the good life is that it emphasizes subjective experiences.
• What is key to this hedonistic conception of the good life is that it emphasizes subjective experiences. On this view, to describe a person as "happy" means that they "feel good," and a happy life is one that contains many "feel good" experiences.
• If Socrates emphasizes virtue and Epicurus emphasizes pleasure, another great Greek thinker, Aristotle, views the good life in a more comprehensive way.​
• Socrates emphasizes virtue
• Epicurus emphasizes pleasure
• Aristotle, views the good life in a more comprehensive way.​​
• According to Aristotle, we all want to be happy. We value many things because they are a means to other things:​
• According to Aristotle, we all want to be happy. We value many things because they are a means to other things:

  The Fulfilled Life
• happiness is something we value not as a means to some other end but for its own sake. It has intrinsic value rather than an instrumental value.
• happiness is something we value not as a means to some other end but for its own sake. It has intrinsic value rather than an instrumental value.

  The Fulfilled Life
• Aristotle's idea of what it means to live well is objectivist rather than subjectivist.
• But Aristotle's idea of what it means to live well is objectivist rather than subjectivist. For instance:

  1. Virtue
  2. Health
  3. Prosperity
  4. Friendship
• Virtue: They must be morally virtuous.​
• Health: They should enjoy good health and a reasonably long life.
• Prosperity: They should be comfortably off (for Aristotle this meant affluent enough so that they don't need to work for a living doing something that they would not freely choose to do).
• Friendship: They must have good friends. According to Aristotle human beings are innately social; so the good life can't be that of a hermit, a recluse, or a misanthrope.
• A lot of recent research shows that people who have children are not necessary happier than people who don't have children.

  The meaningful life
• Indeed, during the child raising years, and especially when the children have turned into teenagers, parents typically have lower levels of happiness and higher levels of stress.​