MODULE 8 SCITEC - Docx MARCH 19

SCIENCE ,TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY
MODULE 8: THE GOOD LIFE

st
1 Semester
A.Y. 2021-2022
Course Code: SCITECH
Outline:
 The Concept of Being Good
 The Good Life
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this chapter, students should be able to:
1. describe what good life is; and
2. examine shared concerns that make up the good life considering ethical standards in
order to determine appropriate decisions to contemporary issues.
Content
"What do you want out of life?" is an interesting question posed

by Mark Manson that everyone could probably answer in the simplest
common way: “I want to be happy and have a great family and a job I
like". As discussed in previous chapter, Aristotle's view that the ultimate
goal of man is to flourish, that is, to find happiness. Martin (2012)
defined happiness as loving one's life and valuing it in ways manifested
by sufficient enjoyment and a robust sense of meaning. Achieving
happiness and man's own desire and needs commonly gives essence
for living a good life. In particular, moral decency and goodness,
authenticity, mental health, self-fulfillments, and meaningfulness
describes it.
On the other hand, the concept of how good life would be,
depends in the personal decision of man. It is evident in our modern
society that man's personal decision and ideas- idea of progress,
happiness, beliefs, expectations, attitudes and feelings- are directly
affected by convenience and benefits brought about by science and
technology.(Dotson, 2012) Every human being aspires to live a good
life. Conversely, man's idea of "good life" differs in many dimensions.
THE CONCEPT OF BEING GOOD

The term "good" is commonly used interchangeably with the term
"right". Traer (2007) explained that the adjectives good and right are
related in meaning, but are not synonyms. It makes no sense to speak
of a "right person" when we mean a "good person; or the right action
as a meaning for good action. How can we differentiate the two term
then?
DUTY
RIGHT ACTION
RIGHTS
Taking the right action means correctly applying a norm, premise,

presupposition, rule, standard, or law. This explains that the term
"right" reasons are being used to justify the principle and its
application.
Being good involves having the character and personal qualities
that were justified by reason as having moral worth. (Traer, 2007)
Morals refer to an individuals own principles regarding right and wrong.
In Aristotelean view, "the understandability of the good is based
on the idea of what is good for the specific entity under consideration".
As Younkins (n.d.) expounded, that this view of Aristotle states that the
good is what is good.
CHARACTER
BEING GOOD
RELATIONSHIP
For Aristotle, the good is what is good for purposeful, goal-

directed entities. He defines the good proper to human being as the
activities in which the life functions specific to human beings are most
fully realized.
It acknowledges the fact that human being is endowed with his
own rational mind and free will. Timbreza (2008), as elucidated by
Gripaldo (2013), explained that in natural ethician's view, "good is that
which is suitable to and proper for human nature. Whenever it is not
proper for human nature, it is bad and must be avoided." Acting rightly
means doing the right thing based on the voice of conscience,
otherwise, feeling of guilt, self-reproach, and remorse will be felt. It
follows that a person, as a human being, has his own consciousness of
function, survival, and means of having the life he envisioned.
Thus, considering the aspect of human nature, the term "good'
denotes a more objective meaning of "a state or way of being"
THE GOOD LIFE

The meaning of this term up to present times remains vague.
Wise men of the past argued with the nature and prerequisites of the
good life. Similarly, questions such as, "Is a meaningful life also a happy
one?" and "Is living with happiness means living a good life?" are still
part of the debates even of the philosophers.
Socrates declared that, "the unexamined life is not worth living
for", the idea of worthwhile living should be filtered with experience
and vice versa. Aristotle, being the student of Socrates, viewed the
good life as a life of relationships. It is the nature of man to seek good
life with and for others rather than experiencing it by himself. Aristotle
further elucidated the idea of relating the essence of happiness to
achieving well-being and experiencing good life. In relation to
psychological foundations, Steve Mueller (2016), the founder of Planet
of Success defined the term as:
…a (desirable) state that is primarily characterized by a high
standard of living or the adherence to ethical and moral laws...As such,
the term can both be understood as the quest for wealth, material
possessions or luxuries and the quest to create a worthwhile, honest
and meaningful existence. (Paragraph 5)
Martin Heidegger, an existentialist philosopher, also has a
different view on the aspect of life. He dealt more on how we live an
"authentic life" rather dealing with the "good life". For Heidegger, living
an authentic life means living with deep acceptance on the facticity of
"death" and resulting to a "life lived according to what it has clearly
decided as its meaning and purpose". (Corpuz, B.; Corpuz,R,; Corpuz-
Paclibar M.L.; Paclibar, S. (2016).
These declarations and definition of good life somehow
establishes the idea of asking, "How to attain meaningful existence?"
which will cyclically route to asking for the meaning of good life.
Despite the fact that philosophers dealt with these questions for many
years, modern world tend to answer the problem of what constitutes
the good life through modern science. Various scientific disciplines have
devised empirical methods for assessing subjective states of happiness
and well being and providing innovative and advanced technology
which promotes happy and meaningful life for modern society.
No one can deny the
fact that science and
technology has a profound
impact on how modern
man thinks and
appreciates matter. It can
be concretely seen in the
present conditions of man
in the society. The desire to feel satisfaction of research and
development through genetic engineering, cloning, and the likes
opened endless doors for skeptics
The unending desire for perfection of altering human condition
and productivity, which is somehow questionable, continues to flourish.
In addition, the introduction of cybernetics and nanotechnology which
are considered to be the pillars for the success of harmonizing the
function of machines and living organisms exposed the idea of
achieving precise and accurate function through it. Lastly, the
promotion of wireless technology revolutionized the way how humans
communicate and interact. These are just some of the conditions which
suggested material things and continuous path towards achieving
indefinite level of happiness and good living.
On the other hand, man's varied ethical foundations may also
differentiate the idea of good life. Some may define it through attaining
pleasure (hedonism); others may relate it to peace of mind through
minimizing desires and passions (stoicism) and some views are based
on professing moderate pleasure, which for them, "anything that is
taken in excess is bad" (epicureanism). (Timbreza, 2013)
Thus, it's up to the various intellectual traditions, perspective or
ethical preferences on what the so called good life is. And the question,
"What good life is? remains a question for everyone.”
REFERENCE:
Bautista, D. H. S., Burce, N. S., Garcia, C. S., Imson, J. B., Labog, R. A., Salazar, F. J. B., &
Santos, J. L. (2018). Science, Technology And Society. MaxCor Publishing House, INC.

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SCIENCE ,TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY

MODULE 8: THE GOOD LIFE

"What do you want out of life?" is an interesting question posed

THE CONCEPT OF BEING GOOD

Taking the right action means correctly applying a norm, premise,

For Aristotle, the good is what is good for purposeful, goal-

THE GOOD LIFE

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