Comments on: What is a Good Life?

By: Evan Hadkins

Evan Hadkins — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:33:00 +0000

Thanks Christine for a very thoughtful comment. I’d like to know if you have found that moral choices (by your definition of morality) have made your life more satisfying.

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:01:45 +0000

I was thinking of the question “What is a good life?” as meaning “What is a satisfying life?” The issue of morality hadn’t occurred to me at first. But “What makes a morally good life?” is still a valid question too, and I guess very subjective, just like the “satisfying life” version of the question maybe. I’m now curious about the question of whether my life would be more satisfying with all those 3 elements proposed by you, Evan, while also having “moral goodness”, than it would be with all those 3 things but without being morally good.

I love your proposed 3 componants of an answer to that question, Evan. I can imagine, as has been suggested above, that it would be possible for a person’s life to have those 3 elements and yet not be morally good – and I suppose that would mean that such a person’s life might be good to/for themself but not necessarily good to/for others. I in turn suppose that this might mean that I associate the concept of morality with one’s choices of behaviour etc in terms of those choices’ effects on others and on one’s environment etc – incorporating values like responsibility, respect, compassion. But maybe that just reflects MY interpretation of “morality”. : ) Ah, so much food for thought!

By: Evan Hadkins

Evan Hadkins — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:44:09 +0000

For me I guess the moral is the answer to the question: What is good? or more specifically: What is good for us to do? or What is a good life? For me, any answer to this question is a moral position. Hope this makes sense.

By: Sarah Luczaj

Sarah Luczaj — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:55:54 +0000

Aha – so pleasure, self development and meaning are all moralities for you?

I couldn’t find that moral dimension in the text… I’d be interested to know how they link with morality for you….

My ideas about the moral dimension… I think it has to be there for a life to feel truly good and satisfying to us. We have to be acting according to ethics, or at least aware of an ethical compass. I think that pleasure, self development and meaning can all be followed without a moral dimension, too… and that is dodgy! I am not feeling particularly intellectual today so I’ll leave it there ;-)

By: Evan Hadkins

Evan Hadkins — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:50:23 +0000

The editor’s note I can’t reply for (not being the editor).

I keep hearing about Charles Taylor but haven’t read him I’m afraid. I’ve put Sources of the Self on hold at my local library.

I guess pleasure, self-development, and meaning to my way of thinking are three moralities and my position would be to have a morality that includes them all.

I’m wondering if you have ideas about the moral dimension. If you’d like to voice them I’d like to hear.

By: Sarah Luczaj

Sarah Luczaj — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:22:32 +0000

I think part of the ‘good life’ has something to do with ‘good’ness itself – a moral dimension – you mentioned ethics in post modern culture at the start of the post, Evan, but then didn’t develop it… (I see there’s something about this in the Editor’s Note).

I agree to a large extent with what you say aout pleasure, self development and meaning but the moral/ethical dimension seems to be omitted in them, or just assumed?

To my mind a really excellent resource on the moral questions of what a ‘good life’ is in our ‘postmodern age’ , going through the history of western philosophy to get there, is Charles Taylor’s Sources of the Self.