THE GOOD LIFE

Introduction
Everyone has a different definition of the word “good”, especially in the context of life,
depending on many factors such as where and how we live. One way of examining a different view is
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Applying his idea, it can be assumed that as we move through and up the
pyramid of needs to reach self-actualization, our idea of the “good life” changes.

For instance, people whose needs for security aren’t met may visualize the “good life” to be a
secure environment with meaningful social bonds. However, there are many other factors which play
a role.

One of the concepts studied in positive psychology which may explain our different views is
one of values. It can be argued that your values are one of the drivers of what you perceive to be the
good life.

Values such as power, security, tradition, or benevolence are a collection of principles that
guide our selection or evaluation of actions, events, and people and what we “deem to be correct and
desirable in life” (Schwartz, 1992). Again, if security is one of your core values, rather than the freedom
to travel to exotic countries, a secure job may be your idea of the good life.

In a study across different countries, Inglehart & Klingemann (2000) found that the kind of
values people hold is unrelated to their reported happiness, but the value difference is reflected in what
they say is most important in determining their happiness.

So values may, to a certain extent, codetermine what we consider the good life. But once we
have the secure job we believe is desirable, do we actually consider ourselves leading the “good life”?

Happiness as the Ultimate Purpose of Human Existence

One of Aristotle's most influential works is the Nicomachean Ethics, where he presents a theory
of happiness that is still relevant today, over 2,300 years later. The key question Aristotle seeks to
answer in these lectures is "What is the ultimate purpose of human existence?" What is that end or goal
for which we should direct all of our activities? Everywhere we see people seeking pleasure, wealth,
and a good reputation. But while each of these has some value, none of them can occupy the place of
the chief good for which humanity should aim. To be an ultimate end, an act must be self-sufficient
and final, "that which is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else", and it must
be attainable by man. Aristotle claims that nearly everyone would agree that happiness is the end which
meets all these requirements. It is easy enough to see that we desire money, pleasure, and honor only
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because we believe that these goods will make us happy. It seems that all other goods are a means
towards obtaining happiness, while happiness is always an end in itself.

The Greek word that usually gets translated as "happiness" is eudaimonia, and like most
translations from ancient languages, this can be misleading. The main trouble is that happiness is often
conceived of as a subjective state of mind, as when one says one is happy when one is enjoying a cool
beer on a hot day, or is out "having fun" with one's friends. For Aristotle, however, happiness is a final
end or goal that encompasses the totality of one's life. It is not something that can be gained or lost in
a few hours, like pleasurable sensations. It is more like the ultimate value of your life as lived up to this
moment, measuring how well you have lived up to your full potential as a human being. For this reason,
one cannot really make any pronouncements about whether one has lived a happy life until it is over.
For the same reason we cannot say that children are happy, any more than we can say that an acorn is
a tree, for the potential for a flourishing human life has not yet been realized. As Aristotle says, "for as
it is not one swallow or one fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes
a man blessed and happy."

The Hierarchical View of Nature

Aristotle's vision of the hierarchy of beings

In order to explain human happiness, Aristotle draws on a view of nature he derived from his
biological investigations. If we look at nature, we notice that there are four different kinds of things
that exist in the world, each one defined by a different purpose:

1. Mineral: rocks, metals and other lifeless things. The only goal which these things seek is to
come to a rest. They are "beyond stupid" since they are inanimate objects with no soul

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 2. Vegetative: plants and other wildlife. Here we see a new kind of thing emerge, something
which is alive. Because plants seek nourishment and growth, they have souls and can be even
said to be satisfied when they attain these goals

3. Animal: all the creatures we study as belonging to the animal kingdom. Here we see a higher
level of life emerge: animals seek pleasure and reproduction, and we can talk about a happy or
sad dog, for example, to the extent that they are healthy and lead a pleasant life

4. Human: what is it that makes human beings different from the rest of the animal kingdom?
Aristotle answers: Reason. Only humans are capable of acting according to principles, and in
so doing taking responsibility for their choices. We can blame Johnny for stealing the candy
since he knows it is wrong, but we would not blame an animal since it doesn't know any better.

It seems that our unique function is to reason: by reasoning things out we attain our ends, solve our
problems, and hence live a life that is qualitatively different in kind from plants or animals. The good
for a human is different from the good for an animal because we have different capacities or
potentialities. We have a rational capacity and the exercising of this capacity is thus the perfecting of
our natures as human beings. For this reason, pleasure alone cannot constitute human happiness, for
pleasure is what animals seek and human beings have higher capacities than animals. The goal is not
to annihilate our physical urges, however, but rather to channel them in ways that are appropriate to
our natures as rational animals.

The Pursuit of Happiness as the Exercise of Virtue

According to Aristotle, happiness consists in achieving, through the course of a whole lifetime,
all the goods — health, wealth, knowledge, friends, etc. — that lead to the perfection of human nature
and to the enrichment of human life. This requires us to make choices, some of which may be very
difficult. Often the lesser good promises immediate pleasure and is more tempting, while the greater
good is painful and requires some sort of sacrifice. For example, it may be easier and more enjoyable
to spend the night watching television, but you know that you will be better off if you spend it
researching for your term paper. Developing a good character requires a strong effort of will to do the
right thing, even in difficult situations.

Aristotle would be strongly critical of the culture of "instant gratification" which seems to
predominate in our society today. In order to achieve the life of complete virtue, we need to make the
right choices, and this involves keeping our eye on the future, on the ultimate result we want for our
lives as a whole. We will not achieve happiness simply by enjoying the pleasures of the moment.
Unfortunately,

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 this is something most people are not able to overcome in themselves. As he laments, "the mass of
mankind are evidently quite slavish in their tastes, preferring a life suitable to beasts". Later in the
Ethics Aristotle draws attention to the concept of akrasia, or weakness of the will. In many cases the
overwhelming prospect of some great pleasure obscures one's perception of what is truly good.
Fortunately, this natural disposition is curable through training, which for Aristotle meant education
and the constant aim to perfect virtue. As he puts it, a clumsy archer may indeed get better with practice,
so long as he keeps aiming for the target.

There is yet another activity few people engage in which is required to live a truly happy life,
according to Aristotle: intellectual contemplation. Since our nature is to be rational, the ultimate
perfection of our natures is rational reflection. This means having an intellectual curiosity which
perpetuates that natural wonder to know which begins in childhood but seems to be stamped out soon
thereafter. For Aristotle, education should be about the cultivation of character, and this involves a
practical and a theoretical component. The practical component is the acquisition of a moral character,
as discussed above. The theoretical component is the making of a philosopher. Here there is no tangible
reward, but the critical questioning of things raises our minds above the realm of nature and closer to
the abode of the gods.

In conclusion, according to Aristotle, what is happiness?

• Happiness is the ultimate end and purpose of human existence

• Happiness is not pleasure, nor is it virtue. It is the exercise of virtue.
• Happiness cannot be achieved until the end of one's life. Hence it is a goal and not a temporary state.
• Happiness is the perfection of human nature. Since man is a rational animal, human happiness depends
on the exercise of his reason.
• Happiness depends on acquiring a moral character, where one displays the virtues of courage,
generosity, justice, friendship, and citizenship in one's life. These virtues involve striking a balance or
"mean" between an excess and a deficiency.
• Happiness requires intellectual contemplation, for this is the ultimate realization of our rational
capacities.

Theories of Happiness

Hedonistic Theories

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 Hedonistic theories represent happiness as a ―balance of pleasure over pain. To avoid
terminological confusion, it should be made clear at this point that hedonism‘ as used in philosophy
ordinarily refers to something other than hedonism about psychological happiness. Two other basic
types of hedonism exist, namely, ethical hedonism (a normative theory) and psychological hedonism
(a descriptive theory). Ethical hedonists maintain that one should seek pleasure or that pleasure is the
only thing worth seeking. Psychological hedonists claim that pleasure is the only thing that humans
(and presumably other creatures) ever do seek.

Life-satisfaction Theories

Life-satisfaction and desire-satisfaction theories comprise a second category of theories of

happiness. These two types of theories are very difficult to distinguish from each other. Desire-
satisfaction theories describe happiness as the satisfaction of certain central desires (rarely do its
proponents claim implausibly that happiness is the satisfaction of all desires) for one‘s life. Life-
satisfaction theories describe happiness as the satisfaction of certain standards or goals for one‘s life.
Well, this is really describing the same process: when we have standards or goals for our lives, we
desire their satisfaction or attainment, and when we have a central desire for our lives, then inherent in
this desire is a goal or a standard towards which we strive. For this reason the two types of theories are

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structurally identical, and simply describe this process either from the perspective of the end-state that
is achieved (satisfaction of a standard or standards for one‘s life), or from the perspective of the desire
that is extinguished through the satisfaction of the standard.

Just as physical pleasure or pain could result in positive or negative affect, it seems that the
satisfaction of these central desires could result in happiness, but the satisfaction is not itself happiness,
even if it always were to result in happiness.

References

Ohlin, Birgit (2015, December 14). Good Life. Retrieved from

https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/good-life/

Pursuit of Hapiness (2018). History of Hapiness: Aristotle. Retrieved from https://www.pursuit-of-

happiness.org/history-of-happiness/aristotle/

Bremner, Ryan Hanlon (2011). Theories of Happiness On the Origins of Happiness and Our
Contemporary Conception. Retrieved from http://hss.ulb.uni-bonn.de/2011/2597/2597.pdf

Ladder of Nature( Digital Image). Retrieved from https://www.shmoop.com/taxonomy/taxonomy-

history.html

Rode, Nico (2016, June 19). Hedonic and Eudaimonic pathways. (Digital Image) Retrieved from
https://mappalicious.com/2016/06/19/feel-good-vs-feel-purpose-hedonia-and-eudaimonia-as-
separate-but-connected-pathways-to-happiness/

Neal, Janet (March 1999). Satisfaction Hierarchy (Digital Image). Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0148296397001975

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