Good Life

THE GOOD L IF E
• Everyone is in pursuit of the good life.

• We do certain things because we want to
achieve a life which will make us happy and
content.
• People’s definition of good life may vary and
differ in the particulars.
• In generals, we recognize universal truths that
cuts our differences.
• In Ancient Greece, long before the word
“science” has been coined the need to
understand the world and reality was
bound with need to understand the self
and the good life.
• For Plato, the task of understanding the
things in the world runs parallel with the
job truly getting into what will make the
soul flourish.
• It was Aristotle who gave a definitive
distinction between the theoretical and
practical sciences.
Theoretical disciplines- “Truth” is the aim
(logic, biology physics and metaphysics,
among others.)
Practical disciplines- “good” is the end goal
(ethics and politics)
Aristotle and How We All
Aspire for Good Life
• It is interesting to note that the first
philosopher who approached the problem of
reality from a “scientific” lens as we know
now, is also the first thinker who dabbled into
the complex problematization of the end goal
of life; happiness. This man is none other
than Aristotle.
• Aristotle embarked on a different approach in
figuring out reality. In contrast to Plato who thought
that things in this world are not real and are only
copies of the real in the world of forms, Aristotle
puts everything back to the ground in claiming that
this world is all there is to it and that this world is
only reality we can all access.
• For Plato, change is so perplexing that it can only
make sense if there are two realities: the world of
forms and the world of matter.
• Plato recognized change as a process and as a
phenomenon that happens in the world, that in fact,
it is constant. However, Plato also claims that
despite the reality of change, things remain and
they retain their ultimate “whatness”;
• Plato was convinced that reality is full of these
seemingly contrasting manifestation of change and
permanence. For Plato, this can only be explained
by postulating two aspects of reality, two worlds if
you wish: the world of forms and the world of
matter.
For Plato, this can only be explained by postulating two
aspects of reality, two worlds if you wish:
• the world of forms- things are changing and

impermanent
• the world of matter- entities are only copies of the
ideal and models, and world of forms are only real
entities.
Aristotle for his part, disagreed with his
teacher’s position and forwarded the idea that
there is no reality over and above what the
senses can perceive. As such, it is only by
observation of the external world that one can
truly understand what reality is all about. Change
is a process that is inherent in things. We, along
with all others entities in the world, start as
potentialities and move toward actualities. The
movement, of course, entails change.
• Aristotle extends this analysis from the external world into
the province of the human person and declares that even
human beings are potentialities who aspire for their actuality.
Ever human being moves according to an end. Every action
that emanates from a human person is a function of the
purpose (telos) that the person has.
• Every human person, according to Aristotle, aspires for an
end. This end, we have learned from the previous chapters,
is happiness or human flourishing.
No individual- young or old, fat or skinny male or
female – resists happiness. We all want to be happy,
Aristotle claims happiness is the be all and end all of
everything that we do. We may not realize it but the end
goal of everything that we do is happiness. If you ask
one person why he is doing what he is doing, he may not
readily say that it is happiness that motivates him. Had-
pressed to explain why he is motivated by what
motivates him will reveal that happiness is the grand,
motivating force in everything that he does.
When Aristotle claims that we want to be happy, he
does not necessarily mean the everyday happiness that
we obtain when we win a competition or we eat our
favorite dish in a restaurant. What Aristotle actually
means is human flourishing, a kind of contentment in
knowing that one is getting the best out of life. A kind of
feeling that one has maxed out his potentials in the
world, that he has attained the crux of his humanity.

Good Life

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THE GOOD L IF E

• Everyone is in pursuit of the good life.

• the world of forms- things are changing and

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