Republic of the Philippines

CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY

Don Severino delas Alas Campus
Indang, Cavite

GNED 06 Lecture 09: The Good Life

Aristotle

• One of the challenges of living in the modern world, that offers many paths for us to take,
is living in uncertainty; this leads to confusion about what values to hold and what aims we
should pursue. This then makes us question, “Am I living a good life? What does it mean
to live one?”
• While the choices we make, the values we hold, the aims we pursue, are subjective and
to a degree affected by feeling or intuition, Aristotle in his view of a good life posited that
there are certain things that are essential to living a good life.
• Aristotle identified the highest “good” for human beings. While most people believed that
the highest good is the acquisition of material wealth, pursuit of honor, or satisfaction of
bodily pleasure. Aristotle argues that all of these goods are deficient as the highest good
in some way.
Wealth, Honor, and Pleasure

• Material wealth is always acquired for the purpose of attaining something else. It is
only a means to an end therefore it cannot be the main good or the highest good.
• Pursuing honor is not connected to any characteristic of the person himself but how
others perceive him, so still this cannot be the highest good.
• Pleasure is certainly not the main good, and people whose main interest lies in bodily
pleasures are described as living ‘lives that are fit only for cattle’.
Highest Good

• Aristotle gives us insight on the main component of the highest good. It must be consistent
with the maximization of our faculties (mental or physical power) as human beings.
• What separates human beings from non-human animals is our capacity for reason
therefore it is what Aristotle considered as the highest good.
• A good life for a human being would focus to a significant extent on contemplation and
learning or acquiring the intellectual virtues. A good life should certainly contain some
enjoyment connected with our biological nature, but our higher faculties should be given
more importance.
Intellectual Virtues as Scientific Knowledge
Aristotle associates intellectual virtues with what we identify as scientific knowledge.
Here, there are two kinds of knowledge,

• Knowledge of first principles or fundamental truths of nature; and

• Knowledge that comes from inference or demonstration or what comes about
as a result of applying these principles or fundamental truths.
Virtues
 • Spending your life in contemplation is not enough. Aristotle claims the person who lives
a good life also acts rightly and develops the appropriate state of character from which
to perform those right actions.
• While the intellectual virtues are required as a result of learning these character virtues
(such as courage, temperance, and generosity) are acquired as a result of habituation
and life experiences. These virtues occupy a middle ground between the vices of
excess and deficiency relative to each person i.e. the virtue of courage occupies a
middle ground between being cowardly and being overly rash.
Why Should You Become a Virtuous Person?

• Why do you think you should become a virtuous person?

• What do you think will come out of your becoming a virtuous person?
Eudaimonia

• Acquisition of these intellectual virtues and virtues of character make up Aristotle’s highest
good, which he identifies with the Greek word “Eudaimonia” which is often translated as
the word happiness. Living a Eudemonistic Life is living the Good Life according to
Aristotle.
• The advancements in science and technology not only make our lives easier but also aid
in our goal to achieve Eudaimonia. Likewise, the values and virtues that we acquire
together with our scientific knowledge are the prerequisites for the development of
innovative ideas in creating helpful technologies. It is through our intellectual virtues that
we can determine the purpose of a certain device or discovery in effecting positive changes
in our society. Indeed, technology is the means by which we extend and amplify our
physical and mental abilities to impose our will in the material world and realize what we
believe to be the Good Life.