Introduction to the
Good Life
PHIL105 – T3, 2011
Lecture 3
How Lives Can be Good
• Aesthetically
• As an example
(for a museum)
• Morally
• Causally
• Prudentially
The (Prudentially) Good
Life
• The prudential good life = life is
going well for the person living
it
• What is the best life (generally
speaking)?
Intrinsic vs.
Instrumental Value
• Intrinsic value = ultimately good
for you
• Instrumental value = good for you
because it leads to intrinsic
value
• The test
Is that a good theory of
the good life?
• State what is intrinsically good
for us
• Justify why those things (and not
other things) are intrinsically
good for us
• Test on examples
The Beer Theory
• The good life
= drinking
lots of beer
Jeremy Bentham
• Quantitative Hedonism
• Happiness (a
preponderance of
pleasure over pain) is
the only ultimate good
• “the game of push-pin
is of equal value
with… music and
poetry”
(1748–1832)
John Stuart Mill
(1806– 1873)
• Qualitative Hedonism
• Happiness (a preponderance of
pleasure over pain) is the only
ultimate good
• Higher vs. lower pleasures
• “better to be a human
being dissatisfied
than a pig satisfied”
• The test (try both)
Henry Sidgwick
(1838-1900)
• Sidgwick’s Hedonism
• Happiness (desirable
consciousness) is the
only ultimate good
• Are consciousness of
virtue, truth, freedom,
and beauty good for us?
• Test (X without
pleasure?)
Why We Find it Hard to
Accept that Happiness is
the Greatest Good
1. Pleasure doesn’t cover all the
goods
2. Paradox of happiness
– E.g. being nice to others
3. Hedonism implies egoism
4. Is pursuit of virtue, truth,
freedom, and beauty rational?
G. E. Moore
(1873–1958)
• Objective list
• Experiences of ‘organic
wholes’ are the ultimate
goods
– E.g. beauty, friendship,
pleasure, not pain
• “the admiring
contemplation of [beauty]
is good in itself” (Principia
Ethica pp. 249–50)
M. K. Gandhi
(1869–1948)
• Truth and Ahimsa
• Ahimsa = non-violence
to all sentient creatures
• Ideal existence is full
understanding of truth
and being ruled by
reason, not passions
• You’d never put a fellow
creature before yourself
Aldous Huxley
(1894–1963)
• The right to unhappiness
• “the right to grow old and
ugly and impotent; the right
to have syphilis and cancer;
the right to have too little
to eat; the right to be lousy;
the right to live in constant
apprehension of what may
happen tomorrow… the right
to be tortured by
unspeakable pains of every
kind.”
John Finnis
(1940)
• Objective list
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Life (health & not pain),
knowledge,
play,
aesthetic experience,
friendship,
practical reasonableness,
Religion*
• Test: “X is a good, in
itself, don’t you think?”
John Finnis Again
• All 7 are equally fundamental
– Each needs no justification for its
value
– None can be reduced to another
– None seems less important than
another
• Pleasure is not the point of it all
– Without pleasure each still has
value
Derek Parfit
(1942)
• 3 main categories of theory
• Hedonistic
– happiness
• Desire-Fulfilment
– Getting what you want
• Objective List
– Getting X, Y, Z (sometimes
regardless of whether you
want them or how they make
you feel)
Parfit on Hedonism
• Narrow Hedonism
– There is something distinctive
and unifying about pleasure
– But pleasures are diverse
• Preference Hedonism
– The more pleasurable of two
experiences is the one that is
preferred
– Your life goes well if you
experience getting the things
you want
Parfit on DesireFulfilment
• Unrestricted Desire-Fulfilment
– The best life is the one that has all
of its desires satisfied
– But what about the patient
who recovers without you
ever knowing about it?
• Success Theory
– Only the satisfaction of your
desires about yourself count
– Different to Preference Hedonism
What if your kids die?
• You are estranged from your kids
and they go “off the rails” and die
• Hedonism
– Doesn’t matter as long
as you never find out
• Unrestricted Desire-Fulfilment
– Matters if you didn’t want that
• Success Theory
– Matters if you wanted to be a
successful parent
What if you die?
• Can your wellbeing be affected by
events after your death?
• Hedonism
– No
• Unrestricted Desire-Fulfilment
– Yes
• Success Theory
– Disagreement (but P thinks Yes)
– What’s the difference between death
and permanent alienation?
Preferring Alternatives
• King Lear vs. party
• I’ll prefer whatever I end up
choosing (no regrets)
• Still, it’s true that I would have
preferred one over the other
• The theory, therefore, better
allow for claims about alternate
choices being better
• E.g. Informed Success Theory
Parfit on Objective
List Theories
• OLT are different to D-FT &
PHT because of how they
say value is created
• OLT: We prefer X(good)
because its valuable
• D-FT & PHT: X is valuable
because we prefer it
• Rawls’ grass-counter e.g.
• Sadist e.g.
Objection to D-FT &
PHT
• Someone could prefer what
is not best for them even if
they know all of the facts
Combination
• Perhaps the best theory
matches the strengths of D-FT
& PHT with that of OLT
• A life is good for the one
living it to the extent that
they are willingly engaged in:
–
–
–
–
Having knowledge
Being rational
Experiencing true beauty
Experiencing mutual love
Objections?
• The combination account
still has the problem of
what deserves to be on the
list
– (what should people like and
why should they like it?)
• If I really enjoyed counting
blades of grass, I would be
annoyed that it’s not on the
list
Exemplary Examples
• Come up with new examples to
endorse your theory and argue
against the other theories
• Hedonism
– Happiness/pleasure
• Desire-Fulfilment
– Getting what you want
• Objective List
– X, Y, & Z are the ultimate goods
Read for Next Time
• Taylor, Richard (2008). Virtue Ethics, in
Happiness: Classic and Contemporary
readings in Philosophy, Steven M Cahn &
Christine Vitrano (eds.), pp. 222-235, Oxford
University Press.
• Nozick, Robert (1994). The Experience
Machine, in Ethics, Peter Singer (ed.), pp.
228-229, Oxford University Press.
• Weijers, Dan (2011). The Experience Machine
Objection to Hedonism, in Just the Arguments,
Edited by Michael Bruce & Steven Barbone,
Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 229-231.
More on the Good
Life
PHIL105 – T3, 2011
Lecture 4
Richard Taylor
• Happiness should be
the main concern of all
ethics
• Happiness consists in
achieving fulfilment
via the exercise of
creative intelligence
(1919–2003)
The Nature of Happiness
•
•
•
•
•
Important
Rare
Good
Misunderstood
Eudaimonia = happiness = lucky =
flourishing = well-being?????
• Call no man happy until he is dead
Happiness and Pleasure
• Are not the same thing
• Pleasures are fleeting and
specific
• Happiness is very longterm and holistic
• Can I have an unhappy lower back?
– (because I can have a painful one)
• Hurting people gives the sadist
pleasure, but not happiness
The “Happiness” of Lesser
Beings
• Non-human animals, children, and
“morons” can be happy…
• But that’s not the right kind of
happiness
• The right kind of happiness is:
– “the fulfillment of a person, as a
person” (p. 227)
• Would you rather be a happy
moron?
Pleasure as an Ingredient
of Happiness
• Pleasure is an external
• Externals are goods that are all
or mainly outside of our control
• They are required for the good
life/happiness, but not sufficient
• E.g. some people get cancer
• Other externals = $$, honour,
youth, beauty
Happiness and
Possessions
• The world is full of materialistic
people
• Some possessions are essential
for life and other for happiness
• But, pursuit of wealth after a
point is an obstacle
to happiness
• It’s like eating food
Honour, Fame, and Glory
• All externals
• Often misplaced
– Winning generals are honoured
– Very rich honoured for ~returning
stolen property
• The excellent personal quality or
achievement are the reward
– Heroism
– Creating an extraordinary
philosophical treatise
What Happiness Is
• A fulfilled state of being that is
of ultimate value for a person
• It’s a state (like health is)
• Requires life-long effort
• Happiness consists in the proper
functioning of a person as a
whole
• Happiness = flourishing?
What is Creativity?
• Flourishing for humans is high
functioning in all areas
• Most important is our use of
reason/intellect
• Observe, think, reflect, and
especially create
• Creativity = using reason to make
new things
– New dance/sports/chess move
– Exercise skill in farming/parenting
The Defeat of Happiness
• Disaster (externals) can ruin your
chances for happiness
– Stoics disagreed
• Ignorance of what happiness
really is
– E.g. materialistic people
• Lack of creative intelligence
– Most people are sheep who only
absorb the creative work of others
Nozick’s Experience Machine
De Brigard’s Experience
Machine
Deceived Businessman
The Happy Slave
What if I Don’t Agree?
• Is it possible that most people
are wrong?
• Psychology
• Experimental philosophy
Exemplary Examples
• Come up with new examples to
endorse your theory and argue
against the other theories
• Hedonism
– Happiness/pleasure
• Desire-Fulfilment
– Getting what you want
• Objective List
– X, Y, & Z are the ultimate goods
For Next Time
• The meaning of life
• Read:
– Nagel, Thomas (1971). The Absurd, The
Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 68, No. 20,
pp. 716-727.
– Tolstoy, Leo (2000). My Confession, in
E.D. Klemke (ed.), The Meaning of Life,
2nd edition, pp. 11-20. New York:
Oxford University Press.