TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE
PHILIPPINES Science Technology and
TAGUIG CAMPUS
Bachelor of Technical Vocational Teacher Education
Society
Basic Arts and Sciences Department
PED2-T: Andragogy of Leanring Including Chapter 4: The Good Life
Human Flourishing
- A state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good.
- Human flourishing causes happiness
Happiness
According to Psychologists
• Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or
pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.
According to Behaviorists
• Happiness is a cocktail of emotions we experience when we do something good
or positive.
According to Neurologists
• happiness is the experience of a flood of hormones released in the brain as a
reward for a behavior that prolongs survival.
According to Chemists
• happiness is a mixture of chemicals i.e. Dopamine and Serotonin released by the
brain every time we set up a goal and achieve it.
According to Nicomachean ethics, human flourishing arises as a result of satisfaction in
different domains.
In ancient Greek society, they believe that acquiring these four will bring the seekers
happiness, which in effect allows them to partake in the greater notion of what we call
the Good. However, as time changes, elements that comprise human flourishing
changed.
TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE
PHILIPPINES Science Technology and
TAGUIG CAMPUS
Bachelor of Technical Vocational Teacher Education
Society
Basic Arts and Sciences Department
PED2-T: Andragogy of Leanring Including Chapter 4: The Good Life
The concepts of happiness cannot be achieved without science and technology
SCINCE AND TECHNOLOGY brought humans convenience.
Simple machines become more sophisticated aiding humans to space explorations,
medical innovations, and ventures of life and death.
People found means to live more comfortably, explore more places, develop more
products, and make more money. Because of this, the Nicomachean domain of human
flourishing became much more complex. Brendan Case and Matthew T. Lee improved
the idea of the Nicomachean and identified six domains of human flourishing.
Cultures differ in how they develop and organize these domains – the specification and
ranking of varies across time and place, as does the relative importance of one from the
other.
Financial and material well-being, while not universally valued, provides a necessary
condition for sustaining flourishing in many of the other domains.
They also recognize that for religious and spiritual people, aspects of their faith will
provide additional domains, organized around beliefs, service, communion, and so forth,
which are somewhat represented by the six key domains.
THE GOOD LIFE
The first philosopher who approached the problem of reality from
scientific lens is Aristotle.
He is also the first thinker who dabbled into complex problematization
of the end goal of life: HAPPINESS
Aristotle forwarded the idea that there is no reality over and above what
the senses can perceive. As such, it is only by observation of the external
world that one can truly understand what reality is all about.
TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE
PHILIPPINES Science Technology and
TAGUIG CAMPUS
Bachelor of Technical Vocational Teacher Education
Society
Basic Arts and Sciences Department
PED2-T: Andragogy of Leanring Including Chapter 4: The Good Life
Change is a process that is inherent in all things. We along with other entities in the
world start as potentialities and move towards actualities.
The movement entails CHANGE.
A seed germinates and grows into a plant.
The seed that turned to become the plant underwent change from the potential plant, that is
the seed, to its full actuality, the plant.
Aristotle extends this analysis and declares that even human beings are potentialities
who aspire for their actuality.
• Every human being moves according to some end.
• Every human being aspires for an end.
In the 18th century, John Stuart Mill declared the Greatest Happiness Principle by saying
that an action is right as far as it maximizes the attainment of happiness for the
greatest number of people.
When an action benefits the greatest number of people, said action is deemed ethical.
The ethical is of course, meant to lead us to the good and happy life.
Through the ages, man has constantly struggled with the external world to reach human
flourishing.
History has given birth to different schools of thought, all of which aim for the good and
happy life.
• Materialism
o Matter is what makes us attain happiness.
o Materialists are people who cling on to material wealth as the primary
source of the meaning of their existence.
• Hedonism
o The end goal of life is acquiring pleasure.
o Life is about obtaining and indulging in pleasure because life is limited.
• Stoicism
o An ancient school of thought that taught its followers to accept life as it
comes and cultivate some virtues to lead a meaningful life.
o To generate happiness, one must learn to distance oneself and be
apathetic.
Apatheia: indifferent; not affected by any emotions.
• Theism
o Most people find the meaning of their lives using God as a fulcrum of their
existence.
o The ultimate basis of happiness for theists is the communion with God.
• Humanism
TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE
PHILIPPINES Science Technology and
TAGUIG CAMPUS
Bachelor of Technical Vocational Teacher Education
Society
Basic Arts and Sciences Department
PED2-T: Andragogy of Leanring Including Chapter 4: The Good Life
o Freedom of man to carve his own destiny and to legislate his own laws,
free from the shackles of a God that monitors and controls.
o For humanists, man is literally the captain of his own ship.
o They see themselves not merely as stewards of creation but as
individuals who are in control of themselves and the world outside them.
As a result of the motivation of the humanists, scientists eventually turned to
technology to ease the difficulties of life.
Scientists of today are ready to confront more sophisticated attempts at altering the
world for the benefit of humanity.
Some people are willing to tamper with space and time in the name of technology.
The Good Life Through Science and Technology
1. Mechanized Farming
2. Medical Advances
3. Water Sanitation
TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE
PHILIPPINES Science Technology and
TAGUIG CAMPUS
Bachelor of Technical Vocational Teacher Education
Society
Basic Arts and Sciences Department
PED2-T: Andragogy of Leanring Including Chapter 4: The Good Life
4. Comfortable Living
5. Automation
6. Biotechnology
Science and technology has been for the most part, at the forefront of man’s attempts at
finding happiness. Whether or not we agree with our technological advancements,
these are all undertaken in the hopes of attaining the good life. The balance however,
between the good life, ethics, and technology, has to be attained.
TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE
PHILIPPINES Science Technology and
TAGUIG CAMPUS
Bachelor of Technical Vocational Teacher Education
Society
Basic Arts and Sciences Department
PED2-T: Andragogy of Leanring Including Chapter 4: The Good Life
The only question at the end of the day is whether science is taking the right path
towards attaining what it really means to live a good life.