Name: MARIE NELLE E.

BALDEVIA Course, Year, and Section: BSN- 2A

The Good Life

A. Questions

1. How do you define happiness? How is it different with Aristotle’s definition of happiness?

- Happiness for me is just simply seeing my family proud, happy and contented. And it includes
my succesful dreams.

-The difference between my definition of happiness and Aristotle’s is that mine focuses on my
family and my own pleasure while on Aristotle he has more complex meaning and he define
happiness as not pleasure, nor virtue but is the exercise of virtue.

2. In your opinion, what constitutes the good life?

- A good life to me constitute by being surrounded by family ,friends and money, giving and
receiving love. And showing care and kindness to each other.

3. Based on your experiences, what are the factors that have been influencing your concept of the
good life? Discuss some of your experiences to illustrate these factors.

- The factors that influence my concept of good life are my spiritual beliefs, health and our
social status. I personally believe that my dreams, my faith in God and my view in life influences
my concept of good life like whenever I receive blessings such as food, I always prays and thank
God. Whenever I fail a test, I talk to God and ask for his guidance and state to him that these are
my dreams and it is not only my dream but also a dream of my family. Health is also a big
influence in achieving a good life for me because having a healthy body and mind can get me
through success just like when I was an athlete, I need to not just give up easily and aim for a
win. And lastly our social status, we are not rich or we can’t simply have what we want because
we need to prioritize our needs. It serves as my motivation to strive more to be successful, just
like now, I am studying and aiming to be a registered nurse since it is in demand and a great
amount of money is offered with this job. So all those factors has great impact in what a good
life for me is.

4. What is the good life for Aristotle? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?

- The good life for him is the marked of happiness brought about by virtuous human actions and
decisions that affect the inidividual self and the greater community.

-Yes I agree with him because a good life for me includes not only my personal pleasure, it
includes my family and friends.
5. Is Aristotle’s idea of the good life still relevant today? Support your answer.

- Yes I can say that it still relevant today since personally I view for the greater good. Like I
wanna be succesful not just to be rich and be respected but also to help the people who are in
need of help for their lives from womb to tomb and also help my family by giving them a
comfortable life.

6. What is the relationship between science and technology and the good life? Give specific
examples to illustrate your answer.

- Science and technology are the means or ways through having a good life. For example, I want
to become a nurse and the way of becoming one is to study and learn about science and
technology. Without science and technology I will not become a nurse and their wouldn’t be
doctors, med techs and other medical proffessions because it evolves all in science and
technology.
 B. Reflection

Aristotle’s concept of good life revolves on virtue, which indeed plays an important rule in living a
good life. Good life for him is a goal or an end. All actions should aim at this end. Of course, in order to
live at all we need food, clothing, and shelter, but living is itself the means to the end of living well. He
emphasizes that happiness defines good life. Aristotle argued that as we mature, we act less aimlessly
and more purposefully. We try to develop a plan for living that unites all our various purposes. Without
a plan for living, we don’t know what we are trying to do or why we’re trying to do it. Moreover, not just
any plan will do—we need the right plan, which is one that aims at the final or ultimate end.

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. It personally
affects the way I view a good life but at the same time he also gives me an idea that when you live life
you have to not only live well but also do well because it sums up everything. I agree with Aristotle
because without gods we would not have a lot of the laws that exist today. The laws that were created
today were created based on how the gods said people should live on earth. I also agree with the idea that
the soul is a sum of all the good habits and actions that are performed throughout life because the soul is
provided with information by the gods does not exactly mean we will practice the morals that have been
developed. These morals will not be practiced until the soul has begun to develop more once situations
begin occurring where our morals will need to be used to create reactions with good consequences. So we
need to develop the good habits or virtues that help us obtain what is really good for us, as opposed to
bad habits or vices that lead us toward things that merely appear good. Good habits or moral virtues are
the principal means to having good lives because they allow us to habitually make the choices that both
constitute and lead to good lives

In conclusion Aristotles view on good life is very understandable and will not only help you define
good life but also help you understand that without happiness there is no good life.