On the “Purpose” page, I stated that we seek this practical wisdom in part to allow ourselves to live “the good life”. So:

• What is a “good” life?
• Why pursue “the good life” anyhow?

To arrive at the answers to these questions we’ll also discuss:

1. The meaning of “good”
2. Virtues
3. Morals
4. Branches of morality

These are questions that philosophers have contemplated and disagreed on for centuries. Hedonism proclaims that pleasure is the highest good, and therefore should be the primary aim of your life. On the contrary, Plato and Socrates show us that a good life is one of mastered desires and civic duty (reference Plato’s Republic and Plato’s Apology). Through reading the works of the Stoics, we can assert that a life of gratitude and contentment is one to be sought after (this one makes me think of the current “present mindfulness” movement that has become so popular). To keep it short, we’ll end with a common theme in the works of the famous agitator Friederich Nietzsche. Nietzsche ardently preached non-universality, that not all ideas can be applied as remedies or laws to everyone. He believed “good” was subjective… and after taking a look above who can disagree with that?

At the base of it all, we find little similarities across the above suggestions. Some believe the good life is a pursuit of something while others believe it is living contently in the present. One will argue for pleasure, while the other buries and contains their desires for it. Man, what a help that was… Well maybe if we zoom in smaller we can find some concrete lead! Let’s look at what it means to be a “good” person.

What is meant by a “good” person. The dictionary says “good” simply means a state of being or object that is to be desired. That is, that it fulfills some statement of requirements. A dog that fulfills your expectation of a dog (don’t bite me, and poop outside) is a “gooooooooooood booooooooy”. It may be much easier to be a good dog however given their limited ability to reason, their standards are lower.

Human beings on the other hand, are unique in our level of consciousness and ability to reason, so our standards are higher. We are said to have character, a collection of our moral and mental qualities. Positive moral qualities are called virtues. Since they’re positive, you can bet that I’m going to explain how they’re “good”. So what are virtues, and still yet, what determines a person of good character?

I think the answer to that question is intertwined. First, let’s look quickly at an individuals obligations and expectations of themselves… what ought a man to do for himself at the most basic level of human fulfillment. For a human to be fulfilled they must be able to navigate through and understand their given world as rational beings and secure enough resources to fuel their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual hunger, as well as protect themselves from external harm. Ok pretty vague, but I think it encompasses the necessary fields within which any addition was simply be a fine detail of one of the above.

Now that we’ve constructed a flourishing rational individual, what are his/her (for my fingers’ sake, let’s use masculine pronouns for this exercise) community’s expectations of him? How does he meet the requirements to be called a “gooooooooooood booooooooy” by others?

Let’s start with rationality. Arriving at agreeable terms of what one man ought to do for another (meeting the requirements of his community), lies heavily on our shared ability to reason. Agreeable terms between one man and another can be defined as those terms where neither man is harmed nor left unable to procure the resources necessary to fulfill their own flourishing. The ability to reason allows us to run a cost-benefit analysis, essentially determining one man’s ability to sustain his own flourishing while contributing to another’s. Therefore, a man can be reasonably expected to contribute to his community that which he does not need to maintain to fulfill his own flourishing.

Now, because your community is also made up of rational human beings, it is not expected that you would provide to fulfill everyone else physically, mentally, spiritually, and protect them from external threats. Nor is it rational, at least in capitalism, for a man to be required to only maintain the minimum for his flourishing. But to feed yourself, pursue love, and intellectual intrigue doesn’t make you a “good person” to others or do much for the flourishing of your community. Yet, in order for humanity to have progressed this far, it is evident that there does exist a positive driving force within our character that causes us to help others flourish. That positive driving force is called a virtue.

A virtue is a character trait of high moral standard. Morals are your set of right and wrong, they define your standard of good and bad. To have high moral standards means you are less tolerant of careless behavior, and seek the highest fulfillment of expectation in your outcomes. Someone who seeks the highest fulfillment of expectation may find that the fruits of their labor are plentiful with enough to share, thus a good person would find themselves naturally contributing to society. Some familiar virtues are: bravery, charity, generosity, self control, respect, truthfulness, etc.

where do morals come from? Excellent question! And one that likely brought many of us here! There are two major branches concerning the source of morality. Moral relativism, and moral absolutism. Moral relativism is the position that what is right, just, and virtuous varies from culture to culture and possibly even situation to situation. Essentially, there is no universal right and wrong. Moral relativism exists in opposition to moral absolutism, or the belief that there are universal right and wrong, in accordance with the will or nature of an external source (think God, or human nature). To go further into the different external sources of right and wrong would be outside the boundaries I’m setting on our focus here, just know that there are sources other than God. Therefore, moral absolutism is a characteristic that could be used to describe religion, however moral absolutism is not limited to the religious.

What in the world just happened? Why did we just go down a small rabbit hole on morals and virtues? It’s important to understand what “good” has meant throughout history to the great philosophers that came before us. And more importantly, after hearing their take, what it means to you. Hopefully this blurb simply began your inner monologue with what being a good person means to you.

The few terms we went over today will become especially helpful as we begin to pull lessons from various moral codes (read: religions) throughout history on how to live the good life.

Why live the good life anyway?! Well, for that one, I’ll turn to a poem by Tecumseh:

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide…

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.”

Don’t just leave this contemplation to an internal monologue. Start the conversation by commenting below or contributing your own unique take on the good life by emailing me on the “contact us” page.

– SKEPTIC-ish