THE GOOD LIFE

Module 7
People have different
ideas of what
constitutes the good life.
Wrong pursuits may
lead to tragic
consequences.
Correct pursuits may
lead to flourishing.
 NICOMACHEAN ETHICS 2:2

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 and Modern
Concepts

EUDAMONIA
GOOD LIFE

HAPPINESS & VIRTUE

Confucius: What
you do not want
done to yourself,
do not do to
others.
 MATERIALISM

A form of philosophical monism which

holds that matter is the fundamental
substance in nature, and that all
things, including mental aspects and
consciousness are results of material
interactions.
 Hedonism

Is a school of thought that argues

that the pursuit of pleasure and
intrinsic goods are the primary or
most important goals of human life.
 Stoicism

 Another school of thought led by Epicurus.

 The stoics espoused the idea that to generate
happiness, one must learn to distance oneself and
be apathetic.
 The path to happiness for humans is found in
accepting this moment as it presents itself, by not
allowing ourselves to be controlled by our desire
for pleasure, or our fear of pain.
 THEISM

The belief in the existence

of the Supreme Being or
Deities
 Humanism

A 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.