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Lesson 6 - The Good Life

Aristotle believed that the goal of human life is eudaimonia, or human flourishing. According to Aristotle, eudaimonia is achieved through developing both intellectual and moral virtues. Intellectual virtues like wisdom are developed through education, while moral virtues like courage are developed through habitual practice. Eudaimonia requires finding a balance between extremes in how one lives and acts with virtue. The good life, for Aristotle, is living virtuously and achieving excellence through balancing reason, emotions, and moral conduct.

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Nathanyel Leigh Mongoso
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157 views15 pages

Lesson 6 - The Good Life

Aristotle believed that the goal of human life is eudaimonia, or human flourishing. According to Aristotle, eudaimonia is achieved through developing both intellectual and moral virtues. Intellectual virtues like wisdom are developed through education, while moral virtues like courage are developed through habitual practice. Eudaimonia requires finding a balance between extremes in how one lives and acts with virtue. The good life, for Aristotle, is living virtuously and achieving excellence through balancing reason, emotions, and moral conduct.

Uploaded by

Nathanyel Leigh Mongoso
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lesson 6 – The Good Life

Everyone is
in pursuit
of the
good life…
Aristotle
Nicomachean Ethics
• Treatise on the
nature of moral
life and human
happiness based
on the unique
essence of human
nature
“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…”
Materialism
• Democritus & Leucippus
• Matter is what makes
humans attain
happiness
• Sources of happiness:
• Material wealth
• Fame and honor
• Tangible things
Hedonism
• Epicurus
• The end goal of life is
acquiring pleasure
• Obtaining and indulging
in pleasure
• “Eat, drink and be merry
for tomorrow we die.”
Stoicism
• Epicurus
• One must learn to
distance themselves and
be apathetic
• Be indifferent
• Adapt that some things
are not within our
control
Theism

• Communion with the


higher being
• Move around the
temporary reality until
return to the hands of
the maker
Humanism
• Man has to carve his
own destiny and to
legislate his own laws,
free from the shackles of
a higher being
• Humans are in control of
themselves and the
world outside them
Two Types of Good

Instrumental Intrinsic
Good Good
Good as a means of
achieving something Good in itself
else or some other end

Not the Ultimate Good.


Eudaimonia
Eu – good
Daimon – spirit

• Happiness or welfare
• Human flourishing or
prosperity

“Living Well and


Doing Well”
Two Hallmarks of Eudaimonia

Virtue Behavior showing high


moral standards

Excellence The quality of being


extremely good
Eudaimonia

“Living Well and


Doing Well”
Achieved through
Key Intellectual Virtues:
education, time,
experience -Wisdom
-Understanding

Virtue of
Intellectual
Thought
Virtue
Virtue of
Moral
Character
Achieved through Key Moral Virtues:
habitual practice -Generosity
-Temperance
-Courage
• A virtue is ruined by any
excess and deficiency in how
one lives and acts
• A balance between two
extremes is a requisite of
virtue
• It is the balance pertaining to
the person, circumstance
and the right emotional
response in every experience

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