Module 4: Philosophies of the Good Life Flashcards
Identify the Philosophy:
One basic way we use the word “good” is to express
moral approval.
THE MORAL LIFE
Identify the Philosophy:
So when we say someone is living well or
that they have lived a good life, we may simply mean that
they are a good person, someone who is courageous,
honest, trustworthy, kind, selfless, generous, helpful, loyal,
principled, and so on.
The Moral Life
People with moral life possess and practice many of the
most important virtues
The Moral Life
They don’t spend all their time
merely pursuing their own pleasure; they devote a certain
amount of time to activities that benefit others
The Moral life
Many religions also conceive of the good life in moral terms as
a life lived according to God’s laws. A person who lives this
way—obeying the commandments and performing the proper
rituals—is pious. And in most religions, such piety will be
rewarded. Obviously, many people do not receive their reward
in this life.
The Moral Life
Christian martyrs went singing to their deaths confident that
they would soon be in heaven.
The Moral Life
Hindus expect that the law of
karma will ensure that their good deeds and intentions will be
rewarded, while evil actions and desires will be punished,
either in this life or in future lives.
The Moral Life
For Socrates, to understand what is meant by the ‘good life’
we need to understand what is meant by the ‘examined life’
because one follows from the other.
The Moral life
The philosophically reflective ‘self examination’ is best
understood as an assessment of one’s basic beliefs and
assumptions that should yield a positive rather than a negative
effect on the quality of the self-examiner’s life.
The Moral Life
The purpose of self-examination is self-understanding and
thus a rebalancing of our selves and a shifting in a positive way
to a ‘superior’ or ‘good life’.
The Moral Life
In Plato’s dialogue Gorgias, Socrates takes this position to an
extreme. He argues that it is much better to suffer wrong than
to do it; that a good man who has his eyes gouged out and is
tortured to death is more fortunate than a corrupt person who
has used wealth and power dishonorably.
The Moral Life
In his masterpiece, the Republic, Plato develops this
argument in greater detail. The morally good person, he
claims, enjoys a sort of inner harmony, whereas the wicked
person, no matter how rich and powerful he may be or how
many pleasure he enjoys, is disharmonious, fundamentally at
odds with himself and the world.
The Moral Life
The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus was one of the first to declare,
bluntly, that what makes life worth living is that we can experience pleasure.
The Life of Pleasure
The view that pleasure is the good, or that pleasure is what makes life worth
living, is known as hedonism.
The Life of Pleasure
What is key to this hedonistic conception of the good life is that it
emphasizes subjective experiences. On this view, to describe a person as
“happy” means that they “feel good,” and a happy life is one that contains
many “feel good” experiences.
The Life of Pleasure
