2. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
and the Good Life
“Are we living the good life,”
necessary reflection must be made
on two things :
1. What standard could be used to
define “the good life”.
2. How can the standard serve as a
guide toward living the good life in
the midst of scientific progress as a
guide toward living the good life in
the midst of scientific progress and
technological advancement?
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3. The Magician’s twin
• In the documentary film, The Magician’s twin: C. S. Lewis
and the Case Against Scientism, Lewis postulated that “science
must be guided by some ethical basis that is not dictated by the
science itself. One basis is Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics.
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Nichomachean Ethics
4. •According to Aristotle, an
important Greek
philosopher:
“Every art and every kind
of inquiry, and likewise
every act and purpose,
seems to aim at some good:
and so it has been well said
that the good is that at
which everything aims.”
(Nicomachean Ethics 1:1)
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ARISTOTLE
5. Eudemia: The Ultimate Good
5
•Everything, according to him is aimed at the good and thus the good
may be expressed in different ways. However, the good life is a
different thing. He said that:
“Since—to resume—all knowledge and all-purpose aims at some
good, what is this which we say is the aim of Politics; or, in other
words, what is the highest of all realizable goods?”
7. 1. Pleasure is the ultimate good.
What do you
believe to be
true about
your subject?
What are you
going to try to
convince your
audience of?
7
One aims for pleasure in
the food they eat or in
the experiences they
immerse themselves into.
While pleasure is an
important human need, it
cannot be the ultimate
good.
It is transitory - it passes
It does not encompass all
aspects of life
8. 58%
23%
10%
9%
One Two Three 4th Qtr
8
Many, if not most, aims to be
financially stable, to be rich, or to be
able to afford a luxurious life
There are people who have become
very wealthy but remain unhappy
with the lives they lead.
In this sense, wealth is just an
intermediate good - that is, only
instrumental.
It’s not the ultimate good because it is
not self-sufficient and does not stop
one from aiming for some other
’greater’ good.
2. Wealth is a potential candidate
for ultimate good
9. What do you
believe to be
true about
your subject?
What are you
going to try to
convince your
audience of?
9
Many people nowadays seem to be
motivated by a desire to be known - to be
famous.
Others strive for honor and recognition.
Many people act according to how they think
they will be admired and appreciated by
other people.
However, these cannot constitute the
ultimate good, simply because they are based
on the perception of others.
Fame and honor can never be good in
themselves.
If one’s definition of the good life is being
popular or respected, then the good life
becomes elusive since it is based on the
subjective views of others.
3. Fame and honor is another
candidate for the ultimate good.
10. HAPPINESS
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• Unlike pleasure, wealth, fame, and honor, happiness is the ultimate good.
• In the Aristotelian sense, happiness is ”living well and doing well” (Neb1:4)
• This concept is called eudaimonia (eu meaning good and daimon meaning
spirit). When taken together, this means the good life, which is marked by
happiness or welfare..
• It is a flourishing life filled with meaningful endeavors that empower the
human person to be the best version of himself/herself.
11. HAPPINESS
“Happiness seems more
than anything else to answer to this
description: for we always choose it
for itself, and never for the sake of
something else; while honor and
pleasure and reason, and all virtue
or excellence, we choose partly
indeed for themselves (for, apart
from any result, we should choose
each of them), but partly also for
the sake of happiness, supposing
that they will help to make us
happy. But no one chooses
happiness for the sake of these
things, or as a means to anything
else at all.” (Nicomachean Ethics
1:7)
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12. ARISTOTLE
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• According to Aristotle, man’s “form” comprises a soul, which has
a plant-like part, an animal part, and a rational part.
• And plant-like partnow he asks: How should we live? What does
it require to live a good life?
• His answer: Man can only achieve happiness by using all his
abilities and capabilities or living a life of virtue.
13. Eudaimonia
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•He proposed two hallmarks of Eudaimonia:
Virtue
Excellence
•Thus, happiness in the sense of Eudaimonia has to be distinguished from
merely living good.
•Eudaimonia transcends all aspects of life for it is about living well and
doing well in whatever one does.
14. ARISTOTLE
14
•Virtue is the excellence of character
that empowers one to do good and be
good. Its opposite is called vice.
“We reply that it cannot be right
thus to follow fortune. For it is not in
this that our weal or woe lies; but, as
we said, though good fortune is
needed to complete man’s life, yet it is
the excellent employment of his
powers that constitutes his happiness,
as the reverse of this constitutes his
misery.” (Nicomachean Ethics1:10)
15. two types of virtue
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According to Aristotle, there are two types of virtue: intellectual and moral.
“Excellence, then, being of these two kinds, intellectual and moral.
Intellectual excellence owes its birth and growth mainly to
instruction, and so requires time and experience.
While moral excellence is the result of habit or custom, and
has accordingly in our language received a name formed by a slight
change from habit.” (Nicomachean Ethics 2:1)
16. Three forms of happiness
Aristotle held that there are three forms of happiness.
1. Happiness is a life of pleasure and enjoyment.
2. Happiness is a life as a free and responsible citizen.
3. Happiness is a life as thinker and philosopher.
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17. Three forms of happiness
• Aristotle then emphasized that all three criteria must be
present at the same time for man to find happiness and
fulfillment.
• He rejected all forms of imbalance. Had he lived today he
might have said that a person who only develops his body lives a
life that is just as unbalanced as someone who only uses his head.
Both extremes are an expression of a warped way of life. 17
18. Eudaimonia: uniquely Human?
• Eudaimonia or happiness is unique to humans for it is a
uniquely human function.
• It is achieved only through a rationally directed life.
• Aristotle’s notion on tripartite soul is summarized in the
NEXT table.
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20. 20
Aristotle’s notion on tripartite soul
• On the nutritive degree, all living things, i.e., plants, animals, and
humans, require nourishment and have the ability to reproduce.
• On the sensitive degree, only animals and humans have the ability
to move and perceive.
• On the rational degree, only humans are capable of theoretical and
practical functions.
• Humans possess the nutritive, sensitive, and rational degrees of the
soul.
• Only humans are capable of a life guided by reason.
• Happiness is a uniquely human function for it can only be achieved
through a rationally directed life.
21. • Eudaimonia is what defines
the good life
• To live a good life is to live a
happy life
• For Aristotle, Eudaimonia is
only possible by living a life of
virtue
• Arête, a Greek term is
defined as “excellence of any kind”
and can also mean “moral virtue”
• A virtue is what makes one
function well.
Arête and Human Happiness
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22. 22
He suggested two types of virtue
1.Intellectual virtue
or virtue of thought is achieved through education, time, and experience
Key intellectual virtues are wisdom, which guides ethical behavior, and understanding, which is gained from
scientific endeavors and contemplation.
Wisdom and understanding are achieved through formal and non-formal means.
Intellectual virtues are acquired self-thought knowledge and skills as much as those knowledge and skills taught
and learned from formal institutions.
2.Moral virtue
Or virtue of character is achieved through habitual practice
Some key moral virtues are generosity, temperance, and courage.
Aristotle explained that although the capacity for intellectual virtue is innate, it is brought into completion only by
practice.
It is by repeatedly being unselfish that one develops the virtue of generosity.
It is by repeatedly resisting and foregoing very inviting opportunity that one develops the virtue of temperance.
It is repeatedly exhibiting the proper action and emotional response in the face of danger that one develops the
virtue of courage.
Moral virtue is like a skill - it can be acquired only through repeated practice.
Example: playing a guitar, everyone has an innate capacity for intellectual virtue, but not everyone acquires it
because only those who devote time and practice develop the skill of playing the instrument.
23. 23
• Both intellectual and moral virtue should
be in accordance with reason to achieve
eudaimonia.
• A virtue is ruined by any excess and
deficiency in how one lives and acts.
• A balance between two extremes is a
requisite of virtue.
24. What then is the good life?
• Putting everything in perspective, the good life in the sense of Eudaimonia is the state of being happy,
healthy, and prosperous in the way one thinks, lives, and acts.
• The path to the good life consists of the virtues of thought and character, which are relative mediators
between the two extremes of excess and deficiency.
• In this way, the good life is understood as happiness brought about by living virtuous life.
• We can draw parallels between moving toward the good life and moving further progress and
development in science and technology
• In appraising the goodness of the next medical procedure, the new social media trend, the latest
mobile device, or the upcoming technology for food safety, one must be guided by Aristotelian virtues.
• Science and technology can be ruined by under-or over-appreciation of the scope and function it plays
in the pursuit of the uniquely human experience of happiness.
• Refusing science and technology altogether to improve human life is as problematic as allowing it to
entirely dictate reason and action without any regard for ethical and moral standards.
• By imposing on science and technology and ethical standard that s not dictated by itself, as C. S. Lewis
proposed, not only will scientific advancement and technological development flourish, but also the human
person. 24
25. Thank You and have a good life
Remember
Graded
recitation on
MONDAY
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