Definition Essay: The Good Life

If you were to ask someone what their definition of a happy life would be, they would probably give you an answer like, “having fun.” This is completely untrue in Aristotle’s terms. According to Aristotle, for a man to lead a happy life he must learn each of the intellectual virtues, and practice each of the moral virtues throughout his life. These moral virtues are justice, courage, temperance, magnificence, magnanimity, liberality, gentleness, prudence, and wisdom. With so many virtues to constantly abide by, a man cannot know if he has led a happy life until his life is nearly finished. In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’ Connor, the question is

The “good life” is one of stability and the failure to be affected by forces and circumstances beyond the control of the individual. This has been clearly stated beginning with Socrates, stating how each life should be lived with self-purpose: no outside influences. The artificial “goods” represent that of wealth, status, and political power, whereas what an individual should cherish is their own personal beliefs and convictions. All items that society has taught a person to hold and respect create more damage and disruption than they benefit as they can easily be taken from oneself. A fortune can be lost, the President will run out of terms, but the moral holding of each person is something that cannot be lost or stripped by a force outside

     To further display that Polemarchus’ definition of justice gives a better account of the “good life” I put forth my own definition of the “good life”. I have come to conclude through the lessons life has taught me thus far that the “good life” is one composed of love and understanding. Love of one’s self because with this I can maintain a sound mind and body, but without it I cannot love others. Love of family because

Some people consider freedom the meaning of the good life. Thoreau teaches that the good life is “freedom from desire.” To have a good life people must be free to make their own choices and mistakes. However, other people have a different opinion about the good life—Andrew Carnegie believes people can find the good life through success and wealth. Yet still, others want neither of these, choosing instead to stay innocent with no responsibilities like Adam and Eve, free from decisions and the stresses of everyday life. Another view is Freud’s Pleasure Principle that suggests people are interested only in fun and doing whatever they want all the time. Moreover, these people don’t want to worry about anything else.

Since ancient times, many have sought to the answer the philosophical question, “What is the ‘good life’?” This is a question with no simple answer! For some individuals, “the good life” could mean living a life based on justice and rationality, or on faith and trust in the divine, or on the attainment of power, military, glory, and reputation. Their perspectives varied greatly depending upon their cultural values and contexts.

The concept of living “the good life” means something different for everyone. There is a general understanding that living “the good life” is associated with unyielding happiness and lasting satisfaction. The exact meaning of this desired life was pondered by thinkers and philosophers for hundreds of years. They constructed principals of behavior, thought, and obligation that would categorize a person as “good”. Although some of these ancient philosophies about “the good life” had overlapping ideas, their concepts varied widely. This contrast of ideas can be examined through two major characters in two famous works: Aeneas in “The Aeneid” and Socrates in “The Apology”. Aeneas exemplifies the philosophy that the direct route to “the good life" is through faith, trust in the Gods, and family, while Socrates in “The Apology” emphasizes free will, and vast knowledge of life.

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, at an absolute basic sense, aims at the title of this course: the good life. In an age where philosophy and ethics were not largely developed, Aristotle aims to provide a universal standard for human flourishing and happiness, or the good life. His main argument is that all of our actions and goals are aiming towards human flourishment, but that each action falls into a range of virtues, where excess is one extreme and deficiency is the other extreme. The virtue that we all strive for, he states, is in the middle of these. For example, temperance is a universal human virtue, with pleasures and pains as the excess and deficiency. He states that virtues can be developed and learned over time and through practice,

According to the Dictionary, “happiness is the mental or emotional state of well being which can be defined by others. A pleasurable or satisfying experience.”. Of course that’s true, the feeling of happiness is what it’s scientifically defined as, but happiness is much more than that. Happiness could be a certain sound, a smell, even feeling a certain piece of clothing or a thick warm blanket. People spend hours even years trying to work for what they think is happiness. They work for hours to get large amounts of money, but they never find the happiness their looking for. That’s because happiness isn't materialistic, happiness isn't something you can buy with expensive items. Even though some people believe you can buy happiness, that’s

A group of philosophers, also of Greek origin, produced a theory of this topic; this group of thinkers is called the Stoics. Concerning the good life they had two main values, from which they believe a good life can originate. The first of the two is finding happiness from inner resources, or trying not to depend on things around you such as wealth or adventure to give you a sense of happiness. The second facet is that of not worrying about things that are out of your control, as there is no use.

In part one of our book, “The Good Life,” we studied five different philosopher’s viewpoints on what is needed in order for a person to have a good, fulfilling life. They all included the concepts of pleasure and happiness to some extent in their theories, but they all approached the ideas in different ways. The two hedonists we studied, Epicurus and John Stuart Mill, place heavy emphasis on the importance of pleasure. They both believe that pleasure is a necessity in the ideal life. Jean Kazez agreed with their viewpoints in her theory and said that happiness was a necessity for a good life. Epicurus and Mill also argue that there is nothing else that we ultimately desire beyond pleasure and that it is an intrinsic good.

There are many different interpretations of what the good life truly is. Individualists believe that the good life is pleasing oneself, while utilitarians believe that the good life is acting for the good of the rest of society. Philosophers, too, have their own interpretation. Plato alludes to the philosopher's good life when he uses the phrase "my greatest pleasure." The inherent subjectivity of the word "my" tells the reader that philosophical conversation may not necessarily be everyone's greatest pleasure.

Aristotle is an ancient Greek philosopher who has played a part in subjects such as mathematics and ethics. As a known student of Plato, Aristotle’s knowledge on various topics immensely affected people’s philosophical views. For Aristotle, his definitions of human happiness and a good life consist of being virtuous all throughout life. Happiness comes from being an overall good person; this is “the best way to lead a life and give it meaning” (Psychology Today). According to Aristotle, happiness is a continuing achievement. “Happiness is more a question of behavior and of habit—of ‘virtue’—than of luck; a person who cultivates such behaviors and habits is able to bear his

Socrates definition of the good life is being able to fulfill the “inner life” by inquiring and expanding the mind to the greatest extent possible. Socrates would agree with the good life being more important than life itself. If today’s society was asked the question regarding which one is more important, my guess will be that not many will even be able to differentiate. It will be a very controversial discussion with a lot of bias opinions. David Hume is one of the philosophers who would disagree with Socrates. Socrates proposed his idea of the good life in his encounter with Crito which was written by Plato.

In this paper I will argue that Aristotle’s conception of eudaimonia disproves Mill’s utilitarian view that pleasure is the “greatest good.” The purpose of this paper is to contrast Aristotle’s and Mills views on the value of happiness and its link to morality. First I will describe Aristotle’s model of eudaimonia. Then I will present Mill’s utilitarian views on happiness and morality. Lastly, I will provide a counterargument to Mill’s utilitarian ethical principles using the Aristotelian model of eudaimonia.

The “good life” is a way of living that would typically be heralded as the optimum way to live ones life. The way in which the good life is lived, however, along with all the beliefs within that way of living, has been individualized between multiple different philosophers and philosophies. Firstly, John Stuart Mill for example would probably use his age-old argument of saying that the “good life” would be one where you’re happy - but with absolutely no harm caused to others. The early Christian faith belief would be simply: the “good life” is to follow Jesus. The philosophy of stoicism is a belief that the “good life” is to have strong personal traits, and strength of character. Finally, a personal belief is that the “good life” is an essentially insurmountable goal.