Are We Living A Good Life Essay

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From the time we are born till our death we are always seeking the good life, and for the billions of people on earth, good life can mean many different things.. There are also circumstances in our lives that makes us decide if we are living a good life. For many, having money gives them the greatest joy. While for others becoming educated and giving back to the society is the best life, and there are many more reasons. For me living a good life is about being moral, not pertain to evil and educate myself in order to gain respect from the people around me. However one thing that can be distinguished is that materialistic things like money, jewelry or being evil and hurting others is not a form of true happiness. It is temporary happiness that …show more content…

In my paper I will discuss the question of “are we living a good life” by comparing opinions of philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle and Epictetus from the book “Ethics” by Gordon Marion and what they consider living a good life means. We begin with Socrates, he was a wise philosopher in Athens .He influenced many and at the same time displeased many too. His teaching was viewed to be profound and new, which instilled fear in many Athenians which resulted in him being imprisoned. However Socrates was reluctant to leave Athens and save his life. Why? Wouldn’t he live a happy longer life if he escaped? No, Socrates made his arguments as he quoted “could we live having an evil and corrupted body.” His argument started with him claiming that an evil and corrupted mind and body never finds thrives and lives a good life. Further quoted “Then we ought not to retaliate or render evil for evil for any one….from him” he wants to stay loyal to the people of Athens and most specifically the government. These statements are crucial for the understanding of how one can lead a good …show more content…

Our life experience shape us, some of those experience may be good, some maybe distressing and others may not mean anything. But all of these experience play a huge role at the end of our lives when we ask ourselves if we “lived a good life?” Comparing to Socrates who, despite his imprisonment still considered that he lived a good life and if he broke the law he would become evil and loose his goods. Aristotle argued similarly about living a good life, he quotes “small pieces of good fortune or of its opposite clearly do not weigh down the scales of life one way or the other”. He also quoted “man who is truly good and wise,….all other craftsman” his meaning to his statement is that a man who lived long and experienced life to the fullest, good or bad experiences, is able to ask himself if he lived a good life? Whether the experience is good or bad does not matter it is the end result that counts, at the end if a man lived honestly and found good in everything than yes, he did live good life. One the second quote he further argues that a man that is able to make any circumstances play to his favor is a good man .A man that makes use of his resources and never let evil get to him will continue to enjoy life to the fullest as quoted by Aristotle “happy man can never be miserable” .This supports my theory about, to not letting evil concern us is key to achieve happiness

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