Nov.

9, 2021 --- notes

The good life

The Good Life, mentioned by Kanye West is about living life drama and worry free.
Do your thing, be thankful for what you have, and take full advantage of everything
you do have while still improving on your situation. The Good Life usually consists
of being healthy, having confidence, having fun, partying with different people. Try
not to become jealous of other people and do not make a big deal out of everything
in life. Just live your life, have fun, be positive, and you will be living The Good Life.

According to Emrys Westacott, the question about “good life” is one of the oldest
philosophical questions. It has been posed in different ways.
> How should one live?
> What does it mean to “live well”?
everyone wants to live well, and no-one wants “the bad life.” But the question is not
as simple as it sounds. Philosophers specialize in unpacking hidden complexities,
and the concept of the good life is one of those that needs quite a bit of unpacking

For what do phrases like “the good life,” or “living well,” mean. They can be
understood in the following ways.
 The moral life - One basic way in which we use the word “good” is to express
moral approval. So, when we say that someone is living well or that they have
lived a good life, we may simply mean that they are a good person, someone
who is courageous, honest, trustworthy, kind, selfless, generous, helpful, loyal,
principled, and so on.
- They possess and practice many of the most important virtues. And they do not
spend all their time merely pursuing their own pleasure; they devote a certain
amount of time to activities that benefit others, perhaps through their
engagement with family and friends, or through their work, or through various
voluntary activities.
 The life of pleasure - The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus was one of the first
to declare, bluntly, that what makes life worth living is when we can experience
pleasure.
- Pleasure is enjoyable, it is fun, well and pleasant. The view that pleasure is
good, or, to put it another way, that pleasure is what makes life worth living, is
known as hedonism. The word “hedonist,” when applied to a person, has
slightly negative connotations. It suggests that they are devoted to what some
have called the “lower” pleasures such as sex, food, drink, and sensual
indulgence in general.
 The fulfilled life - If Socrates emphasizes virtue and Epicurus emphasizes
pleasure, another great Greek thinker, 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: for instance, we value
money because it enables us to buy things we want; we value leisure because it
gives us time to pursue our interests.
 The meaningful life - Many of recent research shows that people who have
children are not necessarily happier than people who do not have children.
Indeed, during the child raising years, and especially when the children have
turned into teenagers, parents typically lower levels of happiness and higher
levels of stress. But even though having children may not make people happier,
it does seem to give them the sense that their lives are more meaningful.
 The finished life - The Greeks had a saying: Call no man happy until he is dead.
There is wisdom in this. In fact, one might want to amend it to: Call no man
happy until he is long dead. For sometimes a person can appear to live a fine life
and be able to check all the boxes–virtue, prosperity, friendship, respect,
meaning, etc.–yet eventually be revealed as something other than what we
thought they were. A good example of this is Jimmy Saville, the British TV
personality who was much admired in his lifetime but who, after he died, was
exposed as a serial sexual predator.