Finding The Good Life In Plato's Symposium

Alcibiades’ speech changes the direction of the conversation from praising Agathon to praising Socrates. It might be the reason why Plato ends symposium in this way and also highlights “Platonic Philosophy of love ”.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” As you know these words come from the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, perhaps one of the greatest documents ever written. However, I do have a little problem with the last four words sentence, “the pursuit of Happiness” because I believe it actually sends an easily misinterpreted message.

Human nature dictates the necessity of being successful and happy, and to find internal contentment, but what truly defines the good life? Everyone makes decisions about the person they want to be and what is most important to them: Which do you value more, your wealth or your friendships? Do you want to be famous or truly loved? Do you care what people think or are you just trying to please yourself? I think the good life is a combination of everything, and is a fine line that everyone must walk if they want to be truly content.

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.

Success is extremely coveted in the society, however on the path to success, obstacles will stand in the way. Failure is inevitable and the response of an individual towards these obstacles and the failures in their lives determines whether or not they will have success. Failure gives allowance to learn from mistakes and motivates to do better the next time. The Pursuit of Happyness uses lighting, music and camera angles to give viewers an insight into Chris’ journey through the film demonstrating his resiliency, optimism and loving personality. Filmmaker, Gabriele Muccino, uses the protagonist, Chris’ final triumph to illustrate the significance of failure in achieving success.

Socrates' belief was that he was called on by the Gods to live his life examining others and himself. He believed the necessity of doing what one thinks is right even in the face of universal opposition, and the need to pursue knowledge even when opposed. "I became completely convinced, to the duty of leading the philosophical life by examining myself and others."¹ Socrates believed that to desert this idea was ridiculous and would make his life absurd. Socrates chose to live a life of truth and not to worry about things that did not matter. For Socrates not to live his life by the plans and requests of Gods it would be disobedient and untrue to the Gods. Socrates was brought to court to defend

The texts of Socrates and Confucius examine what it means to live the good life. Although, the texts have similarities, especially in clarifying what the good life isn’t, their philosophies on how to obtain the good life differ greatly. Additionally, the two texts are even ambiguous on what living the good life truly means, so it is first necessary to identify what the good life is.

The story of the movie The Pursuit of Happyness directed by Gabriele Muccino portrays a family who struggles with finding enough money to pay taxes and afford living expenses. The movie takes a place in San Francisco during the 80s. The two main characters are the father Chris Gardner and his son Christopher, Will Smith and Jaden Smith respectively. Gardner tries to support his family. But every time he attempts to make things better, they always end up worse. Gardner in the story wonders on "how to be happy?" He earns his money by selling the bone density

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.

Aristotle is one of the greatest thinkers in the history of western philosophy, and is most notably known for expressing his view of happiness in Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle develops a theory of how to live the good life and reach eudaimonia (happiness). Eudaimonia has been translated into, living a happy and virtuous life. Aristotle’s definition of the good life as the happy life, consist of balancing virtues (arête), the mean, external goods, political science, and voluntary action.

What is the meaning of life? Well known Greek philosphers such as Socrates and Plato believed that our purpose in this life was to gain knowledge in preparation for the next life. Other Philosophers such as Epicurus believed that pleasure is the main goal in life. After giving these ideas lots of thought, I have come to my own conclusion that the true meaning of life is far more complex than either of these; far too complex for any human to fully comprehend. In fact these two different philosophies are only part of the grand picture. If it were that easy for men to figure out our lives wouldn't be so messed up now. The meaning of life revolves around many different things. I

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.

The concept of the good life is one that comes up frequently in the PULSE program because it centers on the core beliefs of the program itself; personal and social responsibility. To me, the nature of the good life entails of knowledge, happiness, justice, and introspection. Through my exploration of the good life, I hope to clarify how I view the good life in accordance to Aristotle and Plato, but also, how I perceive the good life in general. Service is an important portion of the PULSE program, which is why the good life has to be related to it. The belief that service can lead to the good life will allow me to explore the importance of service for the good life, thus, I will be able to explore how PULSE will affect my version of the good life. By connecting the good life to my own personal life, I can clarify how it differs and how it is similar to how Aristotle and Plato defined the good life. Through this, I will be able to connect the good life to my experiences and can investigate how my experiences have influenced my version of the good life. Through my examination of Plato’s and Aristotle’s work, I hope to explain what the good life means to me, and how I hope to achieve it, in and outside of my service placement.

which are not well lived ( Pg 80). Here Plato makes the powerful correlation between the knowledge an orthodontist has acquired and the knowledge a philosopher acquires. He states that the knowledge an orthodontist acquires is as complicated as the knowledge of what distinguishes between good and bad action, and lives that are worth living ( pg. 84). Therefore, just as Dr. Kolondy is the expert on teeth a Philosopher is an Expert of what makes for a good life. Plato believes that because the knowledge that differentiates good and bad actions requires “extensive expertise” than only those who have spent years mastering this complicated subject should be able to advise ( pg 85). He believe that to accurately determine a life worth living it takes someone who is set apart from that life and can assess that life from a vantage point.

In today’s world, humans are often misled on what really is a good life. We are constantly shown through the television and magazines that being rich and famous is the way to go when it comes to a good life, when in truth many of them are miserable by problems that usually wouldn’t affect the common person. In truth there are only a few that are rich and famous and do achieve what can probably considered one of the greatest achievement’s by a man which is having a good life. In my opinion, the decision if someone has a good life or not is up to them and their will to strive for something better than average during the high school years of their life. The reason I feel like it begins at that age in their life is