The Good Life

As you may have realized in the previous activity, the answer to the
question, “What is a Good Life?” varies among individuals. It can also vary
among people from different places, cultures, and schools of philosophy! The
time or period during which a person lives will also affect how he or she defines
a good life. For example, do you think a person living in the 16th century
England will have the same idea of a good life as a person living in the
Philippines during the present day? Of course, not!

Let us begin by discussing the three main ideas that address the good
life: The Moral Life, The Fulfilled Life, and The Life of Pleasure.

The Moral Life is a concept of the good life introduced by Socrates and
Plato. Are you familiar with these two philosophers? To give you a bit of a
background, Socrates is a Greek philosopher who is also considered as the father
of western philosophy. Plato was his most famous student and apprentice
(Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2009).

Figure 3. Socrates Figure 4. Plato

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 According to them, a person who has a good life is someone who
possesses and practices the most important virtues. These virtues are courage,
kindness, loyalty, and generosity. They believed being virtuous is superior
overall supposedly good things like pleasure, power, or wealth. The concept of
the Moral Life as a good life also believes that:

 Questioning, reflecting, and examining the nature of things is important in

order to have a good life.

 Servitude to others is essential.

 To have a good life, one must have full control of his or her desires and
passions with proper reason.

Figure 5. Aristotle
Source:http://www.liveyourmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Aristotle_Color-879x1024.jpg

Aristotle, another famous philosopher that I’m sure you are familiar
with, claims that a good life is The Fulfilled Life. Aristotle is the student of Plato.
Aristotle views the good life more comprehensively and that it all boils down to
man’s desire to be happy. He believes that someone has a good life if he or she:

 is morally virtuous

 has a good health and long life

 leads a prosperous lifestyle

 has good friends

 respects other people

 has good luck or fortune, and

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  is able to use his or her abilities, talents, and capacities.

According to this theory, we value things because they are a means to

achieve other things. For example, we value money because it allows us to buy
our needs and wants. We value leisure because it lets us rest and has time to
pursue our interests. However, happiness is something we value in itself and not
because we get something else when we have it. In other words, the value of
happiness is intrinsic rather than instrumental (Westacott, 2020).

Figure 6. Epicurus
Source:https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ANbSAK4PdZk/T0zUsupWnYI/AAAAAAAAPfA
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Last but not the least, another philosopher named Epicurus suggested
the concept of The Life of Pleasure. According to him, life is worth living because
of pleasures. Pleasure can be defined as a mental state that is enjoyable, positive,
and worth seeking. This view that pleasure leads to a good life or that pleasure is
what makes life worth living, is known as hedonism (Westacott, 2020) There are
many kinds of pleasures in this world, some of which are wealth, fame, food, and
sexual pleasures. Calling someone a hedonist often has a negative connotation
because it suggests that he or she is devoted to “lower” pleasures like food,
drinks, sex, and other sensual indulgences.

Although Epicurus thinks these can give a person a good life, he also
believes that a person should not lose himself or herself to pleasures because:

1. This will reduce one’s pleasure in the long run

2. Pleasure from things like friendship and education are more

important.

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 3. Everyone should live a virtuous life.

There are Three Aspects of Good Life, namely self-mastery, servitude

to society, and contemplation, and learning. The good life is said to be an
integration of these aspects, disregarding the hedonistic idea mentioned earlier.

Ethics and Ethical Standards

Now that you have a background on “What is a Good Life”, the next
question is : “How should I live?”.

The answer to this question is a matter of Ethics. Ethics is the system of

moral principles, meaning a standard for choosing between right and wrong. It
is mainly concerned with what is good for an individual, or yourself, and the
society (BBC, 2014). It is the key in solving the following dilemmas:

a. How to live a good life

b. Knowing your rights and responsibilities

c. The language of right and wrong

d. Identifying what is good and what is bad

Since humans are set apart from other creatures because of the ability to
reason out and the capacity to observe rational thinking, this idea of right and
wrong and living an ethical life is unique. Ethics provides a foundation for
answering complex questions and allowing humans to behave and act according
to moral principles.

The Role of Ethics in Innovation

1. Divergence

The goal of innovation is to change the status quo of the ways we

have been used to it. It aims to create and develop new concepts,
ideas, and methods, therefore diverging from common. Through this,
different problems and issues can be solved using new and maybe
even better approaches and solutions.

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2. Curiosity

Aristotle once said that our curiosity allows us to search for our
intellectual virtues. Curiosity urges us to examine things closely,
probe, explore ideas, and ultimately gain new knowledge. In other
words, innovation begins with curiosity.

Intellectual virtues are excellent character strengths or personal traits

considered to be morally good for thinking and learning. These are
often associated with knowledge and cognitive ability (King, 2014).
Good thinking and learning also require traits like being intellectually
honest, humble, careful, and attentive. These are all intellectual
virtues.

3. Multi-disciplinary

To come up with any innovative solution, you should be able to

look at a problem from multiple perspectives, or a multi-disciplinary
approach must be applied. This provides us with a deeper
understanding of the problem and a more holistic idea about
potential solutions. This can be made possible through the
collaboration of experts and people with diverse skills and
backgrounds.

4. Resilience

Innovation is not a one-time task and is often a product of many

trial and error experiments. Innovators must be resilient, persistent,
and determined to keep testing ideas and continue the process
despite many failed attempts and mistakes.

5. Effect to people

Innovators must also think about the effect or impact of their

innovation to people. Of course, the goal is to benefit all end-users
since the people or the end-users are the ultimate judges if the
innovation is relevant, helpful, and useful to them.

6. Shared responsibility

However, we must also remember that any innovation's success

is a shared responsibility between the innovator and the community.
The innovator’s intention should be for the common good and benefit
of the community. Likewise, the community should make sure to use
the innovation responsibly.

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What is the distinction between technology and innovation?

Innovation is a human-centered perspective and process. It is the

formulation of new concepts, ideas, and methods to provide solutions to
problems.

Technology, on the other hand, can be a product of innovation. It

is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes.
Therefore, technology is an essential part of innovative development
(Callegaro, A. 2017).

Economic gain and technological advancement should not be the

sole consideration of innovation. It should also be ethical. Innovation can
affect people in many different ways and impact many aspects of our
lives, such as our health, communication, education, politics, and justice
system. Thus, innovation should be accomplished within the bounds of
an ethical framework.

Innovations are considered ethical innovations if they possess

the following characteristics (Brown & Wyatt, 2010):

 Humanistic

Innovations should be human-centered. Meaning, it should be

helpful, useful, and relevant to the people for which it is intended.

 Participatory

The process of planning, designing, and creating innovations

should be done with the people and not just for the people.

 Sustainable

Innovations are only ever important and necessary if they

could be sustained for a long period of time considering political,
social, economical, and environmental aspects.

So, how can we relate the Good Life, Ethics, and Innovation to each
other?

To further understand the lesson, please read this UNEP report

with the title, “Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable
Development and Poverty Eradication”

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 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/126G
ER_synthesis_en.pdf

After reading the Online Article, discuss your answer to the following
questions:

 How can we relate the green economy to sustainable

development?

 What are the main principles of the green economy?

 In what ways can a green economy contribute to achieving a good

life for people and the society?

Conclusion/ Summary

Living a good life is a part of human flourishing. Without focusing on self-

pleasure (the hedonistic approach), the good life is a combination of self-mastery,
servitude to the society, and contemplation and learning.

Ethics helps us answer the question, “How should I live?”. It is a system of

moral principles for considering what is good for oneself and society and other
people.

Innovation is a human-centered perspective and process. It is the

formulation of new concepts, ideas, and methods to provide solutions to
humanity’s problems. It also plays a role in achieving a Good Life. However, to
attain a good life though innovation, our decisions must be based on ethical
standards and moral principles.

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