Chapter 5
The Good Life
MS. ELSBETH KAYE P. OLIVA, LPT, [Link] SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
PART II
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND THE HUMAN
CONDITION
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this section, the students are expected to:
1. Examine the human condition to deeply reflect and express philosophical
ramifications that are meaningful to the student as a part of society.
2. Critique human flourishing vis-a vis the progress of Science and Technology
to define the meaning of the good life.
3. Examine shared concerns that make up the good life in order to come up
with innovative and creative solutions to the contemporary issues guided
by ethical standards
4. Examine human rights in order to uphold such rights in technological
dilemnas.
The Good Life
What is a Good Life?
How should one live? What does it mean to “live
well”?
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
What is a Good Life?
courageous principled
honest loyal
to express moral approval
trustworthy helpful
kind selfless generous
The Good Life
A. What is a Good Life?
Socrates- “It is much better to suffer
wrong than to do it.”
Plato- “Virtuous people are rewarded and
wicked people are punished.”
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
A. What is a Good Life?
Plato- “Virtuous people are rewarded and wicked people
are punished.”
Christian martyrs went singing to Hindus expect that the law of karma
their deaths confident that they will ensure that their good deeds and
would soon be in heaven. intentions will be rewarded, while evil
actions and desires will be punished
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
A. What is a Good 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.
Pleasure is what makes life worth Hedonist- “lower” pleasures such as
living, is known as hedonism.
sex, food, drink, and sensual
indulgence in general
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
“Epicure” is someone who is especially
appreciative of food and drink.
The good life has to be virtuous.
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
Today, this hedonistic conception of the good
life is arguably dominant in Western culture.
If Socrates emphasizes virtue and Epicurus
emphasizes pleasure, another great Greek thinker,
Aristotle, views the good life in a more
comprehensive way.
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
A. What is a Happy Life?
Aristotle- “the good life is a happy life”
Aristotle agrees with Socrates that to live the good life one must
be a morally good person.
He also agrees with Epicurus that a happy life will involve many
and varied pleasurable experiences.
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
Michael Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas
“The Ten Golden Rules on Living a Good Life”
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
“The Ten Golden Rules on Living a Good Life”
1. Examine life, engage life with a vengeance; always search for new
pleasures and new destinies to reach with your mind.
2. Worry only about the things that are in your control, the things that can
be influenced and changed by your actions, not about the things that are
beyond your capacity to direct or alter.
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
“The Ten Golden Rules on Living a Good Life”
3. Treasure Friendship, the reciprocal attachment that fills the need for
affiliation.
4. Experience True Pleasure.
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
“The Ten Golden Rules on Living a Good Life”
5. Master Yourself. Resist any external force that might delimit thought
and action; stop deceiving yourself, believing only what is personally
useful and convenient; complete liberty necessitates a struggle within, a
battle to subdue negative psychological and spiritual forces that preclude a
healthy existence; self-mastery requires ruthless candor.
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
“The Ten Golden Rules on Living a Good Life”
6. Avoid Excess. Live life in harmony and balance.
7. Be a Responsible Human Being.
8. Don’t Be a Prosperous Fool. Prosperity by itself is not a cure-all against
an ill-led life and may be a source of dangerous foolishness.
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
“The Ten Golden Rules on Living a Good Life”
9. Don’t Do Evil to Others. Evildoing is a dangerous habit, a kind of reflex
too quickly resorted to and too easily justified that has a lasting and
damaging effect upon the quest for the good life.
10. Kindness towards others tends to be rewarded. Kindness to others is a
good habit that supports and reinforces the quest for the good life.
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
In your opinion, what constitutes a good life?
How is the process in science and technology
a movement towards the good life?
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
B. What is Human Existence?
social ties Existence happiness
ontology consciousness ethics
value Free will purpose Good and evil
existence of one and
symbolic meaning soul and the afterlife multiple Gods, conceptions
of God
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
B. What is Human Existence?
Aristotle teaches that each man's life has a
purpose and that the function of one's life is
to attain that purpose.
He contends that human achievements are animated by purpose and
autonomy and that people should take pride in being excellent at what
they do
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The Good Life
B. What is Human Existence?
Aristotle teaches that each man's life has a
purpose and that the function of one's life is
to attain that purpose.
He contends that human achievements are animated by purpose and
autonomy and that people should take pride in being excellent at what
they do
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
B. What is Human Existence?
Plato’s Theory of Forms proposes that universals
do not physically exist, like objects, but as
heavenly forms.
In the dialogue of Republic, the character of
Socrates describes the Form of the Good.
In Platonism, the meaning of life is in attaining the
highest form of knowledge.
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
C. What is a Public Good?
Rolando Gripaldo, a Filipino philosopher, argues that the
concept of the public good carries largely the politico-
ethical sense, which subsumes the politico-ethical
senses.
A public good is that which benefits by its use, the
communal or national public.
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
C. What is a Public Good?
A public good is that which benefits by its use, the
communal or national public.
The first level comes from the people themselves. They perceive the
public good to be beneficial to most if not to all of them.
The second level comes from the local or national government, which
believes or assumes with the utilitarian perspective that a particular project
or service is desired by the populace as necessary for their common welfare.
• SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY