Philosophy and The Good Life

The Good Life. A life well lived. The most desirable way to live. The concept of The Good Life and what exactly it means to life The Good Life often reflects the current worldview for each section of history examined. At the most basic you would find The Good Life is defined by each individual differently by asking questions. How we find define what gives us the most enjoyment in life. Living life to the fullest. Realizing how to reach a personal balance in your life. The search for the Good Life goes hand in hand with studying philosophy. You ask yourself the same questions about what you belief, and how you defend that belief.

While The Good Life has many definitions when we find what allows us to live the way we want, with enjoyment, in a way we feel is worth working for we are living The Good Life. These ideas depend on many different factors including how you were raised, the environment that effected you, even the time in history you are living in. For example people in the middle ages found The Good Life for them was a platonic worldview with focus on religion. While those living during renaissance found a renewed interest in the unique individual and arts.

The Good Life can give the feeling of living live the right way, the enjoyment of pursuing and achieving goals. In hedonism it involves getting as much pleasure out of life as possible. Living life only for pleasure. The argument against that by Aristotle is pleasure is not an activity, but the result or bonus from the completion of activities. So while pleasure is a important part of The Good Life it is not the good life itself. Other components of The Good Life include success, wealth and financial status as well as the feeling you get striving for success. Asceticism, finding pleasure through the simple things in life. Freedom, as in the freedom to do what one wants. Religion, a life of devotion to a god or something bigger than self. Happiness, as another term for the good life itself. A combination of components of The Good Life used for personal development.

The purpose of The Good Life is to define for yourself how to live the most desirable way. When you examine the components of The Good Life you find they are all self centered. Personal choices that for the most part decide the type of life you wish to live. Egoism the idea that everyone acts only for own self interest and advantage. At the same time acting in a way that helps yourself can and does effect others as well. If you start to act only for the sake of other people’s interest this would be the view of altruism. So you could view things from an egoist standpoint or an altruistic view. As in all things balance is the key. The goal of The Good Life is to examine what is the best balance for your life in each component.

The origin of The Good Life goes right along with the origins of Philosophy itself. In many of Plato’s writings the recurrent theme is the is the search for The Good Life. Socrates discussions show this was a topic of discussion with different ideas that had been talked about even before these early philosophers. Considering what it means to live to live The Good Life in each of its components you could say the origin goes back to the beginning of humanity itself. The earliest humans had to search for the ways to live the best possible life.

So we find there are many ways to define and describe what the good life is. Living the best life possible. Exploring how using pleasure, success, asceticism, freedom, religion, and happiness can lead us to our own personal view of The Good Life. As well as exploring Egoist and Altruistic positions Another way to achieve The Good Life would be Carpe diem! Seize the day! Live in the moment to enjoy yourself rather than worrying about maintaining any big picture ideas. The Good Life is a personal decision everyone has to decide for themselves.