The

good
life
 2

What do
people seek
in life?
 3
What is the ultimate goal of the human
person?
Telos
 The end
 The Ultimate good
 It is complete
 General agreement that this is the
ultimate good, there is disagreement
as to what consists happiness
 4
HEDONIA

Happiness
EUDAIMONIA

Hedonia
• To seek pleasure
• To avoid pain and discomfort
• “A happy life is one that seeks pleasure and avoids discomfort”
Aristotle, Hobbes, Bentham say happiness is of the hedonic kind
Eudaimonia
• Greek for happiness
• Does not simple mean joy, or pleasure, but also success and fulfillment – in
essence, it is what you have when you achieve your full human potential
• For Aristotle, ultimate happiness would be “contemplation”.
• Religions are generally for this
What does “science” say about personal 5

happiness?
Measured by different scales
• Eudaimonia: personal growth, purpose, autonomy,
environmental mastery, good interpersonal
relationships and self acceptance (Ryff, 1989)
(Note: measured by the Psychological Well-being scale)
• Hedonia – measured as feeling good (positive and
negative effect)
 6

What is the Telos of Society?

Happiness and the good life
Example of how science attempted to measure
happinesss: The Cantril Ladder
The Cantril Ladder is one of the most widely used measures of life
satisfaction in which individuals evaluate their lives by imagining a
ladder representing their worst (bottom) to best (top) possible life. It
forms the basis for the annual country well-being rankings in the World
Happiness Report.
7
 World happiness is roughly in the middle. 8

 There is a great disparity in happiness in different

regions of the world.
 Developed countries seem to be happier than the
poorly developed ones.
 Overtime, happiness levels changed in some
countries.
 Suggested data and methodology is strong: If things
change for the worse, it is reasonable for a country’s
happiness to decline.
 9
What factors affect a country’s happiness?

• Wealth
These account
• Health for about over
• Freedom 70% a
• Generosity Country’s
happiness
• Social support
• Corruption in society
 10
Happiness as the Goal of a Good Life
 In the eighteenth century, John
Stuart Mill declared the Greatest
Happiness Principle by saying
that an action is right as far as it
maximizes the attainment of
happiness for the greatest number
of people.
Materialism 11

In terms of human flourishing, matter is

what makes us attain happiness.

Materialism is a philosophy that places a

high value on objects, usually considering
them more valuable than experiences or
personal relationships. The term often
carries negative connotations and is
frequently applied to people who believe
buying things or acquiring wealth will make
them happy.
 12
Hedonism
The hedonists, for their part, see the end goal of
life in acquiring pleasure
Life is about obtaining and indulging in pleasure
because life is limited
The mantra of this school of thought is the
famous, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow
we die.” Led by Epicurus, this school of thought
also does not buy any notion of afterlife just like
the materialists
Stoicism 13

• Stoicism holds that the key to

a good, happy life is the
cultivation of an excellent
mental state, which the
Stoics identified with virtue
and being rational.
• The ideal life is one that is in
harmony with Nature, of
which we are all part, and an
attitude of calm indifference
towards external events.
Stoicism 14

The Stoics espoused

the idea that to generate
happiness, one must learn
to distance oneself and be
apathetic.

The original term,

Apatheia, precisely means
to be indifferent.
 15

Theism
 Most people find the meaning of their lives
using God as a fulcrum of their existence.
 The ultimate basis of happiness for theists is
the communion with God.
 The world where we are in is only just a
temporary reality where we have to maneuver
around while waiting for the ultimate return to
the hands of God.
Humanism 16

For humanists, man is literally the

captain of his own ship.
Inspired by the enlightenment in
seventeenth century, humanists
see themselves not merely as
stewards of the creation but as
individuals who are in control of
themselves and the world outside
them.