Philosophical Issues of a Good Life - Term Paper Example

S The Good Life In light of my life's journey and constant search for knowledge, I have come up with a personal multi-faceted point on what the good life is. I tackled this profound concept in terms of one's emotional state, ability to hone capabilities, relationship with others and introspection about the truth. In this paper, I intend to focus on comparing and contrasting my thoughts about the good life with the notions postulated by the great philosophers - Plato, Aristotle, Bentham, Mills, Kant and Rawls. Moreover, I aim to impart how these remarkable men and their respective schools of thought have reshaped my perception o how one lives the good life. Character Ethics Plato As asserted by Plato in The Republic, the good life is basically defined in terms of the moral life. Although there is more to good life that morality, Plato believed morality is a vital component of living the good life. In this regard, the conflict between the good life and moral life becomes logically impossible in view of their internal relationship. (Nagel) In searching for the good life, one must strive to have a moral life. This endeavor leads us to break away from the senseless and ungratifying pursuit of physical pleasures, honors and material benefits that commonly take precedence over one's search for the moral life (Kraut). It is in this manner that my view is similar to Plato's. As Plato proposed that living a good life involves contemplation by ceasing to engage in unsatisfying interests, I also believe that a good life entails the same kind of thinking to seek out the truth about our happiness, a critical factor of the good life, by giving up on trivial pursuits. At this day and age when we are bombarded with myriad messages the powerful media about the superficial notions on how to satisfy our desires, this requires substantial sacrifice. Aristotle According to Aristotle, living a good life necessitates the fulfillment of one's nature. Like Plato, he emphasized that the true purpose of man's life consists of perfecting his sense of reason by contemplating the truth. As quoted by McManaman, Aristotle writes: "All men by nature desire to knowFor it is because of their wonder that men both now begin to philosophize and at first began to philosophize." Similarly, I believe that using our ability to think is crucial to the good life. The greatest gift that we possess is our ability to think and bring about the fullest potential of our brains. I also consider that using this ability to improve the chances of future generations to live a good life is of great importance. Apart from this condition to good life, Aristotle also provided a profile of one who may live a good life. He defined good life as the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue, which comprised of theoretical wisdom, practical wisdom, and understanding (Edel). As such, only those who are able to exemplify these are deemed capable to lead good lives. For Aristotle, this profile excludes women, slaves and lower classes including trades people and farmers because they are not capable of making their own decisions so they are unable to practice these virtues. Moreover, those who had experienced great loss are not able to lead the good life as it would be difficult to build new friendships, a necessary requirement to have a good life. The chronically ill would also find it difficult to have a good life for it is difficult for them to learn the desires of a healthy person since health is a requirement for leading the good life. (Haslip) In this point, my view on good life contradicts Aristotle's idea. This is because for me, good life is attainable regardless of age, race, gender, social standing, mental and emotional conditions. I believe that anyone who has the ability to hold one's intrapersonal factors separate from external and other environmental factors may achieve happiness, thus, live a good life. For instance, a sick person, although he/she is not of sound health, can still be happy depending on his/her disposition in life. This means that leading the good life is choosing to be happy despite being confronting life's challenges. Utilitarianism Bentham In line with the concept of utilitarianism, Bentham adhered to the greatest happiness principle. This implies that activities leading to good life should be those that generate the highest level of happiness for the greatest number of people (Robinson & Groves). Furthermore, Bentham believed that people's interests or happiness are intricately connected, therefore, for people to have good lives, they must endeavor to promote general interest. My concept of good life is somehow related to Bentham's assertions such that I have taken into account the relationships people have. I have considered that in order to have a good life, people should enhance their relationship with others. In doing so, people should take into consideration other people's interests and happiness apart from their own since there exist an invisible connection between my happiness and theirs. To wit, people may attain the good life by striving to develop our relationships to higher levels by learning the value of persistence and forgiveness. Mill As another proponent of utilitarianism, Mill also believed that happiness consists of the acquisition of pleasures and avoidance of pain. However, Mill stressed that to lead a good life, one must pursue deeper satisfactions that promote spiritual perfection and personal dignity. Moreover, one should satisfy their elevated faculties in preference to animal appetites and strive to develop excellence of mind and character. (Scarre) It should be noted though that in helping others to live a good life, one should not impose personal concepts of happiness on them. This is because Mill deemed that well-meaning but heavy-handed but paternalistic interventions in other people's lives are not always beneficial. Such may substantially limit the person's scope for self-development. With this, it becomes evident that Mill accorded much importance to self-development and autonomy as components of a good life. (Scarre) In my personal concept of good life, I agree with Mill that we should develop our full capacity. Furthermore, in searching for the good life, we must be free to think for ourselves what would truly make us happy. We should not let the media or other people impose on us what they deem are fine ways by which we could achieve a good life. Many live their lives in the shadow of other people's opinion and they believe that this is the right way to go. However, we should come to the realization that we are engaged in an individual journey, thus, our faculty for independent thinking must be utilized in searching for what would make us truly happy and render our lives as good or virtuous. Deontology Kant Based on Kant's work Fundamental Principles of Metaphysics of Morals (1785), he claimed that living a good life entails living a happy life. However, Kant asserted that those who live with a deliberate purpose the enjoyment of life and happiness usually observe that they do not always live as happier as those who do not care about how to conduct their lives. In this regard, the cultivated person or one who strives to live the good life tends to feel frustrations, as if the struggle to live a good life is not worthwhile. But then, Kant reckoned that this sense of frustration makes us aware that something should be set straight. With this, we have the function reason to enable us to establish a good character or good will. This facilitates the making of right decisions that would lead to the good life, which Kant believed is everybody's moral duty. (Grayling) Kant's concept presents to me a new dimension of the good life. Through him, I have learned that living a good life entails a conscious effort. This means that willingness to live a good life should come within us for this to be attainable. Furthermore, I agree with him that a good life necessitates happiness. Therefore, the highest good for the world is one where people are happy since they live in a world where there is just and fair treatment of people (Grayling). Rawls In Rawls' Political Liberalism, he redefined the manner by which people in a well-ordered society attain the good life. Before, Rawls claimed that this concept entails stability, some degree of homogeneity of basic moral beliefs and consensus about what constitutes the good life. However, in view of what actually takes place in a democratic society wherein there is incompatibility in the religious, philosophical and moral beliefs, Rawls redefined this concept. In this regard, a well-ordered society becomes society united only in its political conception of justice with people having varying perceptions of the good life. With this, Rawls believed that good life, no matter how one conceives its, is achieved in a just society. Based on Rawls' view, I observe that his assertion on the good life is somewhat similar to Mill's belief such that both of them considered that each one has a different concept of good life which other people should respect and not impose. Apart from this, I have also learned from Rawls that the government has a key role to play in promoting the good life through the proper administration of justice by being neutral with respect to the various conceptions of the good life (Dorf). For Rawls, justice is a vital component for the achievement of the good life. Conclusion Given the above discussion, I have ascertained that our thoughts and ways on how to live a good life are as valid as that of the great philosophers. These different notions pertaining to the good life primarily prove that, although the road to the achievement of good life may be rough and entail myriad detours, the path is nevertheless wide and welcoming. As long as we stay committed to this purpose, everyone is invited to take on the challenge to lead the good life. People should only open their minds and hearts since there should be willingness to desire this end in order for good life to be attainable. Works Cited Dorf, M.C. "In Praise of John Rawls, the Man who Made Moral Philosophy Respectable Again." FindLaw-Legal News & Commentary. 2002. 03 March 2006 . Edel, A., et al. Morality, Philosophy, and Practice. New York: Random Hause, Inc. 1989. Grayling, A.C. What is Good Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2003. Haslip, S. "Aristotle's Theory of the Good Life: A Consideration of the Role of Luck in the Good Life and the Concept of Self-Sufficiency." Quodlibet Journal. 5(1), 2003. Kraut, R. (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge. 1992. McManaman, D. Aristole and the Good Life. 03 March 2006 . Nagel, T. The View from Nowhere. Oxford. 1986. Rawls, J. Political Liberalism. Columbia University Press. 1993. Robinson, D. and J. Groves. Introducing Political Philosophy. Icon Books. 2003. Scarre, G.F. "John Stuart Mill." The Literary Encyclopedia. The Literary Dictionary Company. 28 February 2006 . Read More