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Definitions of a Good Life
At all times, philosophers and thinkers have been pondering what the Good Life is. This concept is subjective and can differ for every person because everyone views the world through the lens of their own values, beliefs, and experiences. As for me, the Good Life is the one where you are happy and satisfied with yourself and what you bring into the world. It is a life where you have the inner balance and feel like you are doing the right thing at every given moment. This paper aims to discuss the concepts related to the idea of the Good Life and reflect on what our society should aspire to achieve.
The concept of the Good Life refers to a meaningful and fulfilled life and is interwoven with the concept of a good society, with developed structure, values, and culture. Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle viewed morality, ethics, and flourishment as an integral part of the Good Life for each individual (Hobbs, 2018). Besides, Aristotle believed that people are hardwired to live in a polis or city; hence, he linked politics and social structure with ethics and moral choices (Hobbs, 2018). I agree with this idea and think that as a society, we should focus on growing together and making the world a better place. It can be achieved by managing resources wisely, maintaining sustainability, and providing equity and opportunities for everyone. The community where every individual is guided by morale and ethics is a key to the Good Life, and this is the state our society should aspire to achieve.
I believe our focus should be on sufficiency, equity, development, and improvement to ensure a good society and a good life. This perspective is consistent with the ideas discussed by O’Neill et al. (2018), who suggested strategies to enhance the quality of life and resource use within planetary boundaries. As per the World Health Organization, quality of life is “an individual’s perception of their position in life … in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns” (as cited in Carlquist et al., 2017, p. 481). Therefore, it seems utopian to attempt to provide the Good Life for everyone as the concept is subjective. For instance, for me, it includes being healthy, feeling comfortable and satisfied with myself, working toward my goals, and continuously growing as a person. At the same time, another person might see the Good Life as one where their basic needs are covered. The view of the universal Good Life suggested by O’Neill et al. (2018) is idealistic. However, with sufficient quality of life, everyone can be closer to their concept of happiness and satisfaction.
Another important concept associated with the Good Life is progress and its impact on society. Progress refers to a movement toward a better state or a higher stage. In this regard, the desire for the Good Life prompts society to evolve and develop. Progress is often defined as economic growth; however, some researchers criticize this perspective. For example, according to Coccia & Bellitto (2018), “the concept is stratified in manifold factors and includes both positive and negative dimensions in society” (p. 1). In other words, several complex factors of social and psychological nature can influence human behavior and, in turn, human progress. I can’t entirely agree with such criticism as I believe that economic growth contributes significantly to the quality of life and should be viewed as one of the primary contributions to the Good Life. For example, providing nations with quality health care, education, and job opportunities is progress as it allows for the improvement of life for individuals and society as a whole. On the contrary, maintaining the same level of living standards cannot be viewed as progress since it does not mean upgrading to a higher stage.
The idea of the Good Life is based on human values, such as equality, equity, and opportunity. Eliminating opportunity gaps in education and jobs is critical to provide more people with a foundation for the Good Life (Jonas & Yacek, 2018). I support this idea even though the ultimate equality seems unachievable in the real world. Nevertheless, we should value freedom and independence, assisting others in order to create a healthier society. Similarly, racial, ethnic, and gender equality needs to be provided, and people need to be protected from violence. I believe that the promotion of social and environmental justice is crucial for ensuring equal treatment for people and the good society.
In this regard, understanding the importance of concepts like progress, equity, and development contributed to my intention to enroll in my degree in Social Science Psychology. I believe that the program will help me develop a better understanding of the diversity and complexity of our society and the world where we live. Thus, I will be able to apply my knowledge to contribute to welfare promotion.
To sum up, different perspectives on the Good Life and ideas related to it are discussed in this paper. Every individual needs to determine their values and aspirations since they largely define a person’s view of the Good Life. A mindful and tolerant approach to organizing our society can help us consider different perspectives of happiness and provide people with equity and opportunities for growth.
Carlquist, E., Ulleberg, P., Delle Fave, A., Nafstad, H. E., & Blakar, R. M. (2017). Everyday understandings of happiness, good life, and satisfaction: Three different facets of well-being. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 12 (2), 481-505.
Coccia, M., & Bellitto, M. (2018). Human progress and its socioeconomic effects in society. Journal of Economic and Social Thought , 5 (2), 160-178. Web.
Hobbs, A. (2018) Philosophy and the good life. Journal of Philosophy in Schools, 5 (1), 20-37.
Jonas, M. E., & Yacek, D. W. (2018). Nietzsche’s philosophy of education: Rethinking ethics, equality and the good life in a democratic age . Routledge.
O’Neill, D. W., Fanning, A. L., Lamb, W. F., & Steinberger, J. K. (2018). A good life for all within planetary boundaries. Nature Sustainability , 1 (2), 88-95.
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What Is The Good Life & How To Attain It
Yet with more than 8 billion people on this planet, there are probably just as many opinions about what the good life entails.
Positive psychology began as an inquiry into the good life to establish a science of human flourishing and improve our understanding of what makes life worth living (Lopez & Snyder, 2011).
We will begin this article by exploring definitions of the good life, before presenting a brief history of philosophical theories of the good life. Then we’ll introduce a few psychological theories of the good life and methods for assessing the quality of life, before discussing how you can apply these theories to live a more fulfilling life.
Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Happiness & Subjective Wellbeing Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients identify sources of authentic happiness and strategies to boost wellbeing.
This Article Contains:
What is the good life, what is the good life in philosophy, theories about the good life, assessing your quality of life, how to live the good life, positivepsychology.com resources, a take-home message.
The word ‘good’ has a very different meaning for very many people; however, there are some aspects of ‘the good life’ that most people can probably agree on such as:
- Material comfort
- Engagement in meaningful activities/work,
- Loving relationships (with partners, family, and friends)
- Belonging to a community.
Together, a sense of fulfillment in these and other life domains will lead most people to flourish and feel that life is worth living (Vanderweele, 2017).
However, the question ‘what is the good life?’ has been asked in many fields throughout history, beginning with philosophy. Let’s look at where it all began.
According to Socrates
Interestingly enough, the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates never wrote anything down. His student Plato reported his speeches in published dialogues that demonstrate the Socratic method. Key to Socrates’ definition of the good life was that “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Ap 38a cited in West, 1979, p. 25).
Socrates argued that a person who lives a routine, mundane life of going to work and enjoying their leisure without reflecting on their values or life purpose had a life that wasn’t worth living.
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According to Plato
Plato’s view of the good life was presented in The Republic (Plato, 380-375 BCE/2007) and supported the views of his teacher, Socrates. The Republic examines virtue and the role of philosophy, community, and the state in creating the conditions needed to live well.
In this dialogue, Socrates is asked why a person ought to be virtuous to live a good life, rather than merely appear to be virtuous by cultivating a good reputation. Socrates answers that the good life doesn’t refer to a person’s reputation but to the state of a person’s soul.
The role of philosophy is essential because philosophers are educated in using reason to subdue their animal passions. This creates noble individuals who contribute to a well-ordered and humane society. A person who is unable to regulate their behavior will be unstable and create suffering for themselves and others, leading to a disordered society.
Therefore, educated reason is crucial for cultivating virtuous conduct to minimize human suffering, both individually and socially. For Socrates and Plato, rational reflection on the consequences of our actions is key to establishing virtuous conduct and living the good life, both inwardly and outwardly.
For a fuller account check out the Wireless Philosophy video by Dr. Chris Surprenant below.
According to Aristotle
For Plato’s student Aristotle, the acquisition of both intellectual and character virtues created the highest good, which he identified with the Greek word eudaimonia , often translated as happiness (Aristotle, 350 BCE/2004).
Aristotle believed a person achieves eudaimonia when they possess all the virtues; however, acquiring them requires more than studying or training. External conditions are needed that are beyond the control of individuals, especially a form of state governance that permits people to live well.
It was Aristotle’s option that state legislators (part of Greek governance) should create laws that aim to improve individual character, which develops along a spectrum from vicious to virtuous. To cultivate virtue, reason is required to discern the difference between good and bad behavior.
For more on Aristotle’s version of the good life, click out the Wireless Philosophy video by Dr. Chris Surprenant below.
According to Kant
Immanuel Kant was a Prussian-born German philosopher active during the Enlightenment period of the late 18th century (Scruton, 2001). He is best known for his seminal contributions to ethics, moral philosophy, and metaphysics.
For Kant, a capacity for virtue is unique to human beings, because the ability to resist bodily desires requires the exercise of reason. Kant claims that human reason makes us worthy of happiness by helping us become virtuous (Kant, 1785/2012).
Kant’s argument describes the relationship between morality, reason, and freedom. One necessary condition of moral action is free choice.
An individual’s action is freely chosen if their reasoning determines the right course of action. Conduct is not freely chosen if it is driven by bodily desires like hunger, lust, or fear, or behavioral coercion that applies rewards and punishments to steer human actions.
For Kant, individuals should act only if they can justify their action as universally applicable, which he termed the categorical imperative (Kant, 1785/2012). He argued that all our behavioral choices can be tested against the categorical imperative to see if they are consistent with the demands of morality. If they fail, they should be discarded.
A virtuous person must exercise reason to identify which principles are consistent with the categorical imperative and act accordingly. However, Kant claimed that reason can only develop through education in a civilized society that has secured the external conditions required for an individual to become virtuous.
For example, an individual who lives in fear of punishment or death lacks the freedom required to live virtuously, therefore authoritarian societies can never produce virtuous individuals. Poverty also erodes an individual’s freedom as they will be preoccupied with securing the means of survival.
For a deeper examination of these ideas view the Wireless Philosophy video by Dr. Chris Surprenant below.
According to Dr. Seligman
Dr. Martin Seligman is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of positive psychology. For Seligman, the good life entails using our character strengths to engage in activities we find intrinsically fulfilling, during work and play and in our relationships.
For Seligman, ‘the good life’ has three strands,
- Positive emotions
- Eudaimonia and flow
Dr. Seligman’s work with Christopher Peterson (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) helped to develop the VIA system of signature strengths . When we invest our strengths in the activities of daily living, we can develop the virtues required to live ‘the good life’; a life characterized by positive emotional states, flow, and meaning.
Here is a video to learn more from Dr. Seligman about how cultivating your unique strengths is essential for living the good life.
Theories about what constitutes the good life and how to live it abound. This section will look at some of the most recent psychological theories about what contributes to the good life.
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Set-Point Theory
Set-point theory argues that while people have fluctuating responses to significant life events like getting married, buying a new home, losing a loved one, or developing a chronic illness, we generally return to our inner ‘set point’ of subjective wellbeing (SWB) after a few years (Diener et al., 1999). This is largely inherited and tied in with personality type.
In terms of the Big Five personality traits , those predisposed to neuroticism will tend more toward pessimism and negative perceptions of events, while those who are more extroverted and open to experience will tend more toward optimism.
According to set-point theory, the efforts we make to achieve our life goals will have little lasting effect on our overall SWB given we each have our own ‘happiness set point’ (Lyubomirsky, 2007).
Furthermore, set point theory suggests that there’s little we can do for people who have been through a difficult time like losing their spouse or losing their job because they will eventually adapt and return to their previous set point.
This implies that helping professionals who believe they can improve people’s SWB in the longer term may be misguided. Or does it?
Other research provides evidence that achieving life goals can have a direct effect on a person’s overall contentment (Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2021). Specifically, pursuing non-competitive goals such as making a family, building friendships, helping others in our community, and engaging in social justice activities improve our sense of wellbeing.
On the other hand, pursuing competitive life goals like building a career and monetary wealth exclusively undermines SWB.
For set-point theory, the good life depends more on innate personality traits than education. For a surprising account of this, using a practical example, view the video below.
Life-Satisfaction Theory
Typically, life satisfaction refers to a global evaluation of what makes life worth living rather than focusing on success in one area of life like a career or intimate relationship, or the fleeting sense of pleasure we often call happiness (Suikkanen, 2011).
However, there tend to be two dominant theories of what causes life satisfaction: bottom-up theories and top-down theories.
Bottom-up theories propose that life satisfaction is a consequence of a rounded overall sense of success in highly valued life domains . Valued life domains differ from person to person. For a professional athlete, sporting achievement may be highly valued, while for a committed parent having a good partnership and stable family life will be super important (Suikkanen, 2011).
Of course, these are not mutually exclusive. For most people, multiple life domains matter equally. However, if we are satisfied with the areas that we value, a global sense of life satisfaction results (Suikkanen, 2011).
Top-down theories propose that our happiness set-point has a greater influence on life satisfaction than goal achievement. In other words, personality traits like optimism have a positive impact on a person’s satisfaction with life regardless of external circumstances, whereas neuroticism undermines contentment.
The debate continues, and life satisfaction is likely influenced by a combination of nature and nurture as with other areas of psychology (Suikkanen, 2011). You can read an extended discussion of the evidence in our related article on life satisfaction .
So, while life satisfaction is associated with living a good life, it’s not necessarily related to education, the exercise of reason, or the cultivation of virtues as proposed by the philosophers mentioned above. For example, a successful financial criminal may be highly satisfied with life but would be deemed a corrupt human being by such lofty philosophical standards.
Hedonic treadmill
Meanwhile, the concept of the hedonic treadmill proposes that no matter what happens, good or bad, a person will eventually return to their baseline emotional state. For example, if someone gets married, moves to a new home, is promoted, loses a job, or is seriously injured in an accident, eventually, they will default to their innate set point (Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2012).
This has also been termed hedonic adaptation theory (Diener et al., 2006). It means that no matter how hard we chase happiness or try to avoid suffering, ultimately, our innate tendencies toward pessimism or optimism return us to our baseline level, either dysphoria or contentment (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005).
If you tend to see the glass as half empty rather than half full, don’t be discouraged, because recent research by Sheldon and Lyubomirsky (2021) acknowledges that while we each have a happiness set point, we can also cultivate greater happiness. We’ve offered some tips in the ‘how to’ section below.
Nevertheless, assessing the quality of life has led to an abundance of international research using quality of life indicators (QoLs) in a variety of scales and questionnaires (Zheng et al., 2021).
Gill and Feinstein identified at least 150 QoL assessment instruments back in the mid-1990s (Gill & Feinstein, 1994). Since then, scales have been refined to measure the quality of life in relation to specific health conditions, life events, and demographic factors like age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (Zheng et al., 2021).
Our article Quality of Life Questionnaires and Assessments explains this in more detail and guides you on how to choose the best instrument for your clients.
Meanwhile, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ) has developed the Better Life Index to measure how people from different demographics define a high quality of life. You can find out more in the brief video below.
How can each of us live the good life today given our array of differences? Below are five steps you can take to clarify what the good life means to you, and how you can apply your strengths to set goals that will lead to greater fulfillment.
1. Clarify your values
Clarifying what is important to you helps invest your life with meaning. Download our values clarification worksheet to get started.
2. Identify valued life domains
Investing in activities in valued life domains is intrinsically rewarding. Download our valued life domains worksheet to find out more.
3. Invest in your strengths
You can find out your character strengths by taking the free survey here . Playing to your strengths helps you overcome challenges and achieve your goals leading to greater life satisfaction. Read our article about how to apply strengths-based approaches to living well.
4. Set valued goals
Finally, we all benefit when we set goals and make practical plans to achieve them. Try our setting valued goals worksheet for guidance.
5. Ensure high-quality relationships
Healthy relationships with partners, family, friends, and colleagues are essential for living the good life and achieving your goals. To assess the quality of your relationships, take a look at our article on healthy relationships with free worksheets.
You can also look at our healthy boundaries article with more free resources. Healthy boundaries support you in living the good life in all life domains, while poor boundaries will leave you feeling unfulfilled.
17 Exercises To Increase Happiness and Wellbeing
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We have an excellent selection of resources you might find useful for living the good life.
First, take a look at our Meaning & Valued Living Masterclass for positive psychology practitioners. This online masterclass follows a practical process of identifying values, investing in strengths and then applying them to living a more fulfilled life.
In addition, we have two related articles for you to enjoy while exploring the role of meaning in the good life:
- Realizing Your Meaning: 5 Ways to Live a Meaningful Life
- 15 Ways to Find Your Purpose of Life & Realize Your Meaning
Next, we have an article explaining the role of human flourishing in living the good life.
- What Is Flourishing in Positive Psychology? (+8 Tips & PDF)
Finally, we have an article on how to apply values-driven goal-setting to living the good life.
- How to Set and Achieve Life Goals The Right Way
We also have worksheets you may find useful aids to living the good life:
Our How Joined Up is Your Life? worksheet can help your client identify their interests and passions, assess how authentically they are living their life, and identify any values that remain unfulfilled.
This Writing Your Own Mission Statement worksheet can help clients capture what they stand for, their aims, and objectives. Having a personal mission statement can be useful to return to periodically to assess our alignment with our values and goals.
Finally, this How to Get What You Deserve in Life worksheet can help clients identify what they want as well as justify why they deserve a good life.
If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others develop strategies to boost their wellbeing, this collection contains 17 validated happiness and wellbeing exercises . Use them to help others pursue authentic happiness and work toward a life filled with purpose and meaning.
We all want to live the good life, whatever that means to us individually. The concept has preoccupied human beings for millennia.
If you currently struggle, which we all do at different times, we hope you’ll consider trying some of the science-based strategies suggested above to steer your way through.
All the evidence we have shared above shows that you can improve your life satisfaction and subjective wellbeing by living in line with your values. But you have to be clear about what’s important to you.
Values-based living invests your life with more meaning and purpose and is key to living the good life.
We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Happiness Exercises for free .
- Aristotle. (2004). Nicomachean ethics (Tredennick, H & Thomson, J.A.K., Trans.). Penguin. Original work published 350 BCE.
- Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., & Scollon, C. N. (2006). Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the adaptation theory of well-being. American Psychologist , 61(4), 305–314. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.4.305
- Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin , 125(2), 276–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276
- Gill, T. M., & Feinstein, A. R. (1994). A critical appraisal of the quality of quality-of-life measurements . Jama, 272(8), 619-626. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.272.8.619
- Kant, I. (2012). Groundwork of the metaphysics of morals . Cambridge University Press. Original work published 1785.
- Lopez, S. L. & Snyder, C. R. (2011). The Oxford handbook of positive psychology . Oxford University Press.
- Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology , 9, 111–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.9.2.111
- Lyubomirsky, S. (2007). The how of happiness: A scientific approach to getting the life you want . Penguin.
- Plato. (2007). The Republic (D. Lee, Trans.; 2nd ed.). Penguin. Original work published 380-375 BCE.
- Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification (Vol. 1). Oxford University Press.
- Scruton, R. (2001). Kant: A very short introduction . Oxford.
- Sheldon, K. M., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2012). The challenge of staying happier: Testing the hedonic adaptation prevention model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 38(5), 670–680. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167212436400
- Sheldon, K. M., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2021). Revisiting the sustainable happiness model and pie chart: Can happiness be successfully pursued? The Journal of Positive Psychology , 16(2), 145–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2019.1689421
- Suikkanen, J. (2011). An improved whole life satisfaction theory of happiness. International Journal of Wellbeing , 1(1), 149-166. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v1i1.6
- Vanderweele, T. J. (2017). On the promotion of human flourishing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , 114(31), 8148–8156. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702996114
- West, T. G. (1979). Plato’s “Apology of Socrates”: an interpretation, with a new translation . Cornell University Press.
- Zheng, S., He, A., Yu, Y., Jiang, L., Liang, J. & Wang, P. (2021). Research trends and hotspots of health-related quality of life: a bibliometric analysis from 2000 to 2019. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 19 , 130. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-021-01767-z
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For me a happy life is having the necessary things to have a good life in the physical aspect, economic aspect ,social aspect, achievement and also family, love and health . The luxuries are also good but they are extra things in life. The most important thing in life is love and peace.
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What Does It Mean to Live the Good Life?
- Philosophical Theories & Ideas
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- Ph.D., Philosophy, The University of Texas at Austin
- M.A., Philosophy, McGill University
- B.A., Philosophy, University of Sheffield
What is “the good life”? This is one of the oldest philosophical questions. It has been posed in different ways—How should one live? What does it mean to “live well”?—but these are really just the same question. After all, everyone wants to live well, and no one wants “the bad life.”
But the question "What is the good life?" isn’t as simple as it sounds. Philosophers specialize in unpacking hidden complexities, and the concept of the good life is one of those that needs quite a bit of unpacking.
The Moral Life
One basic way we use the word “good” is to express moral approval. 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.
They possess and practice many of the most important virtues. And they don’t spend all their time merely pursuing their own pleasure; they devote a certain amount of time to activities that benefit others, perhaps through their engagement with family and friends, or through their work, or through various voluntary activities.
This moral conception of the good life has had plenty of champions. Socrates and Plato both gave absolute priority to being a virtuous person over all other supposedly good things such as pleasure, wealth, or power.
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.
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 pleasures he enjoys, is disharmonious, fundamentally at odds with himself and the world.
It is worth noting, though, that in both the Gorgias and the Republic , Plato bolsters his argument with a speculative account of an afterlife in which virtuous people are rewarded and wicked people are punished.
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.
But devout believers are confident that their piety will not be in vain. Christian martyrs went singing to their deaths confident that they would soon be in heaven. 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 Life of Pleasure
The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus was one of the first to answer "What is the good life? by declaring, bluntly, that what makes life worth living is that we can experience pleasure. Pleasure is enjoyable, it’s fun, it’s...well...pleasant! The view that pleasure is good, or, to put it another way, that pleasure is what makes life worth living, is known as hedonism .
The word “hedonist,” when applied to a person, has slightly negative connotations. It suggests that they are devoted to what some have called the “lower” pleasures such as sex, food, drink, and sensual indulgence in general.
Epicurus was thought by some of his contemporaries to be advocating and practicing this sort of lifestyle, and even today an “epicure” is someone who is especially appreciative of food and drink. But this is a misrepresentation of Epicureanism. Epicurus certainly praised all kinds of pleasures. But he didn’t advocate that we lose ourselves in sensual debauchery for various reasons:
- Doing so will probably reduce our pleasures in the long run since over-indulgence tends to cause health problems and limit the range of pleasure we enjoy.
- The so-called “higher” pleasures such as friendship and study are at least as important as “pleasures of the flesh."
- The good life has to be virtuous. Although Epicurus disagreed with Plato about the value of pleasure, he fully agreed with him on this point.
Today, this hedonistic conception of the good life is arguably dominant in Western culture. Even in everyday speech, if we say someone is “living the good life,” we probably mean that they enjoying lots of recreational pleasures: good food, good wine, skiing, scuba diving, lounging by the pool in the sun with a cocktail and a beautiful partner.
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 Fulfilled Life
If Socrates emphasizes virtue and Epicurus emphasizes pleasure, another great Greek thinker, Aristotle , views the good life more comprehensively. According to Aristotle, we all want to be happy.
We value many things because they are a means to other things. For instance, we value money because it enables us to buy things we want; we value leisure because it gives us time to pursue our interests. But happiness is something we value not as a means to some other end but for its own sake. It has intrinsic value rather than instrumental value.
So for Aristotle , the answer to "What is the good life?" is a happy life. But what does that mean? Today, many people automatically think of happiness in subjectivist terms: To them, a person is happy if they are enjoying a positive state of mind, and their life is happy if this is true for them most of the time.
There is a problem with this way of thinking about happiness in this way, though. Imagine a powerful sadist who spends much of his time gratifying cruel desires. Or imagine a pot-smoking, beer-guzzling couch potato who does nothing but sit around all day watching old TV shows and playing video games. These people may have plenty of pleasurable subjective experiences. But should we really describe them as “living well”?
Aristotle would certainly say no. He agrees with Socrates that to live the good life one must be a morally good person. And he agrees with Epicurus that a happy life will involve many and varied pleasurable experiences. We can’t really say someone is living the good life if they are often miserable or constantly suffering.
But Aristotle’s idea of what it means to live well is objectivist rather than subjectivist. It isn’t just a matter of how a person feels inside, although that does matter. It’s also important that certain objective conditions be satisfied.
For instance:
- Virtue: They must be morally virtuous.
- Health: They should enjoy good health and reasonably long life.
- Prosperity: They should be comfortably off (for Aristotle this meant affluent enough so that they don’t need to work for a living doing something that they would not freely choose to do.)
- Friendship: They must have good friends. According to Aristotle human beings are innately social; so the good life can’t be that of a hermit , a recluse, or a misanthrope.
- Respect: They should enjoy the respect of others. Aristotle doesn’t think that fame or glory is necessary; in fact, a craving for fame can lead people astray, just as the desire for excessive wealth can. But ideally, a person’s qualities and achievements will be recognized by others.
- Luck: They need good luck. This is an example of Aristotle’s common sense. Any life can be rendered unhappy by tragic loss or misfortune.
- Engagement: They must exercise their uniquely human abilities and capacities. This is why the couch potato is not living well, even if they report that they are content. Aristotle argues that what separates human beings from the other animals is the human reason. So the good life is one in which a person cultivates and exercises their rational faculties by, for instance, engaging in scientific inquiry, philosophical discussion, artistic creation, or legislation. Were he alive today he might well include some forms of technological innovation.
If at the end of your life you can check all these boxes then you could reasonably claim to have lived well, to have achieved the good life. Of course, the great majority of people today do not belong to the leisure class as Aristotle did. They have to work for a living.
But it’s still true that we think the ideal circumstance is to be doing for a living what you would choose to do anyway. So people who are able to pursue their calling are generally regarded as extremely fortunate.
The Meaningful Life
Recent research shows that people who have children are not necessarily happier than people who don’t have children. Indeed, during the child-raising years, and especially when children have turned into teenagers, parents typically have lower levels of happiness and higher levels of stress. But even though having children may not make people happier, it does seem to give them the sense that their lives are more meaningful.
For many people, the well-being of their family, especially their children and grandchildren, is the main source of meaning in life. This outlook goes back a very long way. In ancient times, the definition of good fortune was to have lots of children who do well for themselves.
But obviously, there can be other sources of meaning in a person’s life. They may, for instance, pursue a particular kind of work with great dedication: e.g. scientific research, artistic creation, or scholarship. They may devote themselves to a cause: e.g. fighting against racism or protecting the environment. Or they may be thoroughly immersed in and engaged with some particular community: e.g. a church, a soccer team, or a school.
The Finished Life
The Greeks had a saying: Call no man happy until he’s dead. There is wisdom in this. In fact, one might want to amend it to: Call no man happy until he’s long dead. For sometimes a person can appear to live a fine life, and be able to check all the boxes—virtue, prosperity, friendship, respect, meaning, etc.—yet eventually be revealed as something other than what we thought they were.
A good example of this Jimmy Saville, the British TV personality who was much admired in his lifetime but who, after he died, was exposed as a serial sexual predator.
Cases like this bring out the great advantage of an objectivist rather than a subjectivist notion of what it means to live well. Jimmy Saville may have enjoyed his life. But surely, we would not want to say that he lived the good life. A truly good life is one that is both enviable and admirable in all or most of the ways outlined above.
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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Quality of Life — What Is a Good Life and How To Live It
What is a Good Life and How to Live It
- Categories: Quality of Life
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Published: Jan 30, 2024
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Table of contents
Defining a good life, factors influencing a good life, paths to living a good life, obstacles and challenges in pursuit of a good life.
- Aristotle, & Irwin, T. (2000). Nicomachean ethics. Hackett Publishing.
- Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84(2), 377–389.
- Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. H. (2008). Know thyself and become what you are: A eudaimonic approach to psychological well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(1), 13–39.
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What is the Good Life? Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, & Kant’s Ideas in 4 Animated Videos
in Animation , Philosophy | December 28th, 2015 14 Comments
We all have some vision of what the good life should look like. Days filled with reading and strolls through museums, retirement to a tropical island, unlimited amounts of time for video games…. Whatever they may be, our concepts tend toward fantasy of the grass is greener variety. But what would it mean to live the good life in the here and now, in the life we’re given, with all its warts, routines, and daily obligations? Though the work of philosophers for the past hundred years or so may seem divorced from mundane concerns and desires, this was not always so. Thinkers like Plato , Aristotle , Immanuel Kant , and Friedrich Nietzsche once made the question of the good life central to their philosophy. In the videos here, University of New Orleans philosophy professor Chris Surprenant surveys these four philosophers’ views on that most consequential subject.
The view we’re likely most familiar with comes from Socrates (as imagined by Plato), who, while on trial for corrupting the youth, tells his inquisitors, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Pithy enough for a Twitter bio, the statement itself may too often go unexamined. Socrates does not endorse a life of private self-reflection; he means that “an individual become a master of himself,” says Surprenant,”using his reason to reign in his passions, as well as doing what he can to help promote the stability of his community.” In typical ancient Greek fashion, Plato and his mentor Socrates define the good life in terms of reasonable restraint and civic duty.
The Platonic version of the good life comes in for a thorough drubbing at the hands of Friedrich Nietzsche, as do Aristotelian, Kantian, and Judeo-Christian ideals. Nietzsche’s declaration that “God is dead,” and in particular the Christian god, “allows us the possibility of living more meaningful and fulfilling lives,” Surprenant says. Nietzsche, who describes himself as an “amoralist,” uses the proposed death of god—a metaphor for the loss of religious and metaphysical authority governing human behavior—to stage what he calls a “revaluation of values.” His critique of conventional morality pits what he calls life-denying values of self-restraint, democracy, and compassion (“slave morality”) against life-affirming values.
For Nietzsche, life is best affirmed by a striving for individual excellence that he identified with an idealized aristocracy. But before we begin thinking that his definition of the good life might accord well with, say, Ayn Rand’s, we should attend to the thread of skepticism that runs throughout all his work. Despite his contempt for traditional morality, Nietzsche did not seek to replace it with universal prescriptions, but rather to undermine our confidence in all such notions of universality. As Surprenant points out, “Nietzsche is not looking for followers,” but rather attempting to “disrupt old conceptual schemes,” in order to encourage us to think for ourselves and, as much as it’s possible, embrace the hand we’re dealt in life.
For contrast and comparison, see Surprenant’s summaries of Aristotle and Kant’s views above and below. This series of animated videos comes to us from Wireless Philosophy (Wi-Phi for short), a project jointly created by Yale and MIT in 2013. We’ve previously featured video series on metaphysical problems like free will and the existence of god and logical problems like common cognitive biases . The series here on the good life should give you plenty to reflect on, and to study should you decide to take up the challenge and read some of the philosophical arguments about the good life for yourself, if only to refute them and come up with your own. But as the short videos here should make clear, thinking rigorously about the question will likely force us to seriously re-examine our comfortable illusions.
For many more open access philosophy videos, check out the Wi Phi Youtube channel . You can also find complete courses by Prof. Surprenant in our collection of Free Online Philosophy Courses .
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Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness
by Josh Jones | Permalink | Comments (14) |
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Comments (14), 14 comments so far.
I’ve always identified with Aristotle’s views much more than with Socrates. It seems to me that Aristotle is saying that individual virtues are the one path to the good life and that path come from within, while Plato posits the path to the good life needs exterior influences for the person to achieve success.
All these philosophers assume that the human condition starts with a clean slate. We know that this assumption is incorrect. Heredity and Environment play significant roles in character and temperament. Heredity influences go back to the beginning of our species. A cat which learns a new trick transfers this knowledge to successive generations. Environment is conditioned by parentage,race,religion,education,social status and a host of other factors. A human is therefore heavily conditioned by factors which are not in his control. Some of these have been enunciated by some of these philosophers and it was Socrates famous dictum “Know Thyself” that was central to his philosophy. Happiness is when one has deconditioned oneself and knows who he really is.
Very interesting
Self knowledge is the begining of all wisdom.It is when we allow our reason to control our emotions that wisdom comes.
good life for me is time spend smiling as often as I could , not for a just a joke or yarn but for time that occupy ..reading , observing , traveling, meeting new people and cultures have opened my mind …and then I also agree environment in which we live in play mammoth role in shaping our Ives , when we do understand all these variables … our road to good life ..begins finally :) Happy new year !!
I am grateful for this post. Since I have been currently dealing with a loss in my family, I found myself to be trying to answer this complicated question. How to live a good life is very simple to ask and very difficult to answer. From my point of view, it is a combination of all the stuff that was presented in each one of these videos. I agree with the on the Kantian imperative with him, but can’t agree with him about his claims about God, where I feel more united with Nietzsche, and so on. What I know is that the suffering and pain are both real and my goal should be to help others to avoid them as much as possible — which makes it clear where I stand in this current refugee crisis. We have to be able to accept our own mortality and behave in a way that is in accordance with the nature, society, and other individuals. I truly hope that one day, we will all understand that the war and violence are futile, and that fighting against any injustice would be our main source of happiness.
In many ways, the opposite is true. Aristotle claimed that the good life cannot be lived without a variety of external goods. Without the luck of being born to a good family and with a good temperament, the good life is hard to achieve. Material comfort, luck, good breeding, a youth filled with proper education, and friends are all requirements of the good life for Aristotle, and the average person has little control over such factors.
Hi Chris, thank you very much for these digestible videos and taking the time write and post. I love that truth is universal, that it is collaborated regardless of time, distance, ethnicity and social standing. Listening to Socates analogy of the chariot for mastery of the self reminded me of this piece from the Upanishads, one of the Hindu holy books written some 3,000–5,000 years ago.
“Know the Atman (Self) as the lord of the chariot, and the body as the chariot. Know also the intellect to be the driver and mind the reins.
The senses are called the horses; the sense objects are the roads; when the Atman is united with body, senses and mind, then the wise call Him the enjoyer.”
I find the concepts of living good life, though quite good, assume that lives are steady. But good life for a child, for a young person or for an old person are not the same philosophy. Not only the views are different but also the stakes and worries. I believe that good life concepts of Plato and Aristotle combined with Buddhist teachings can show us the path of perfect good life. The necessity of being born with certain privileges may also ruled out with such concept. Enlightening requested.
Good life for me is a just life. I try to be just and fair to everyone , to my family and friends and neighbors and to my students , so as to have a clear conscience at the end of the day. Nothing like a clear conscience as I go to bed. I try hard to adhere to self restraint in most challenging situations though it’s easier said than done. I try to be reticent amid the hoopla in the mass media and some noisy colleagues because at the end I am answerable only to God and to myself.
I wish I could meet these peak versions of Human Society.
This is just plain wrong. Nietzsche in particular focused on the role of the human condition and how evolution and genetics shaped individuals and groups of people.
The comment I left above was in response to one of the responses above though it doesn’t seem to be showing up that way. The person who said that all these philosophers assume a clean slate is wrong.
Among the four mentioned philosophers, who among them have opposing diffinition of good life?
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How to Achieve a Good Life? Essay
Introduction, a good life, moral virtues.
Life is a mode of existence and it reflects the experiences of living that characterize human beings whether they are good or bad. It is confounding to describe what a good life is, since it applies to both material life and moral life. For instance, having immense wealth and ability to enjoy every form of pleasure that ever existed on earth can mean that one is living a good life.
On the other hand, living in accordance with the social, religious, and personal morals and ethics means that one is also living a good life. The latter description of good life applies across the board since everybody has the ability to achieve it for everyone has the capacity to think and act morally. This essay explores what a good life is and describes plan of achieving it in terms of integrity, honesty, responsibility, and state obligation.
Living a good life morally means living in accordance with the ethics and morals of the society. A person living a good life expresses virtues such integrity, honesty, responsibility, and obligation to the rules of the state. Although human beings pursue material and intellectual gains as they struggle towards self-actualization, these gains cannot earn them the virtue of being good, but they will rather pass for hardworking individuals.
The rich people have wealth because of their hardworking character and they can access good things of life that bring happiness and pleasure, and live a good life materially; nevertheless, this does not make them good. A poor person can live a miserable life of poverty but with good moral life, while on the contrary, a rich person can live a good life of pleasure and happiness, but with bad moral life. Therefore, when “good” describes virtues, pleasure and happiness due to money cannot make life good.
Morals and ethics that individuals observe to express virtues in life cause them to lead a good life. Integrity and honesty are two virtues that enhance people’s lives and they are inseparable because one cannot have integrity without being honesty or vice versa. Educationally, integrity is a skill that demands learning and continued practice in order to internalize the virtue.
The development of integrity is a life-long process that needs patience and endurance since it is a skill. If likened to a building, honesty and truth are two central pillars that support integrity as a virtue throughout the life of an individual. To develop this virtue of integrity in life, one must always adhere to its two pillars, because integrity is not a discrete achievement but a continuous achievement that needs constant efforts to maintain it.
Responsibility is a powerful virtue which if exercised well by an individual, it does not only yield great benefits to the individual, but also to other people and the entire society. The golden rule demands that there must be reciprocal responsibility in the society to enable people live harmoniously.
Sense of responsibility in the society lessens the impacts of problems experienced because of collective response that lead to immediate solution. Becoming part of the solution in the society is being responsible and the excuse of blaming others would not arise. Since rights and responsibility relate to one another, it requires one to act within the limits of rights to become responsible. Therefore, the rights that govern social norms and regulations give one the degree of responsibility to struggle and attain good life for the benefit of all.
Citizens have a moral obligation to respect and advocate for the common interests of all people. For justice and peace to flourish in the society, citizens have great moral obligation to ensure they report criminal activities, help the poor, and conserve the environment. By doing this, they foster their states’ bid to build justice and a peace in society where virtues spring up, and thus a good life.
Like responsibility, adherence to the laws of the land will enable one to develop a sense of obligation to the state. It is a great obligation of the citizens to help the state fight vices in the society and the best way to do it is by becoming loyal to the laws and being active in enforcing them. The concerted efforts of the state and its citizens will improve the lives of the people resulting into a good life.
To achieve good life based on observance of moral principles demands strict observance and application of ethics in everything. Complete observance of ethics yields virtues that make life good in any community.
The goodness of a person cannot result from material wealth, but it emerges from the good moral qualities that one has achieved in life. Virtues like integrity, honesty, responsibility, and obligation to the state are attributes of an individual and have no material value attached to them. This means that, a good life does not mean wealthy living.
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IvyPanda. (2018, August 4). How to Achieve a Good Life? https://ivypanda.com/essays/life/
"How to Achieve a Good Life?" IvyPanda , 4 Aug. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/life/.
IvyPanda . (2018) 'How to Achieve a Good Life'. 4 August.
IvyPanda . 2018. "How to Achieve a Good Life?" August 4, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life/.
1. IvyPanda . "How to Achieve a Good Life?" August 4, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life/.
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IvyPanda . "How to Achieve a Good Life?" August 4, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life/.
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The idea of the Good Life is based on human values, such as equality, equity, and opportunity. Eliminating opportunity gaps in education and jobs is critical to provide more people with a foundation for the Good Life (Jonas & Yacek, 2018).
We will begin this article by exploring definitions of the good life, before presenting a brief history of philosophical theories of the good life. Then we’ll introduce a few psychological theories of the good life and methods for assessing the quality of life, before discussing how you can apply these theories to live a more fulfilling life.
According to Plato’s philosophy, a good life involves striving for self-knowledge, developing virtuous character traits, seeking philosophical wisdom beyond superficial appearances, and aligning one’s actions with moral principles.
What is “the good life”? This is one of the oldest philosophical questions. It has been posed in different ways—How should one live? What does it mean to “live well”?—but these are really just the same question. After all, everyone wants to live well, and no one wants “the bad life.” But the question "What is the good life?"
Defining a Good Life. The concept of a good life can be understood from various perspectives, including philosophical, psychological, and cultural viewpoints. Philosophers such as Aristotle and Epicurus have emphasized the importance of virtue, reason, and pleasure in defining a good life.
In typical ancient Greek fashion, Plato and his mentor Socrates define the good life in terms of reasonable restraint and civic duty. The Platonic version of the good life comes in for a thorough drubbing at the hands of Friedrich Nietzsche, as do Aristotelian, Kantian, and Judeo-Christian ideals.
Aristotle speaks of the “good life” as the happy life; he does not mean that the “good life” is merely one of feeling happy or amused. Rather, as the “good life” for a person is the active life of functioning well in those ways that are essential and unique to humans.
This essay explores what a good life is and describes plan of achieving it in terms of integrity, honesty, responsibility, and state obligation. A Good life. Living a good life morally means living in accordance with the ethics and morals of the society.
For Aristotle, the final end of human life is to flourish, to live well, to have a good life. All actions should aim at this end. Of course, in order to live at all we need food, clothing, and shelter, but living is itself the means to the end of living well. And what is living well a means to?
The good life is a condition in which a person will be the most happy. Such happiness can be researched through a deductive perspective, which has been done by many philosophers over time (Wernqvist, 2007). Two such philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, deem the good life as the state in which a person exhibits total virtue.