Can Good Life Be Measured? The Dimensions and Measurability of a Life Worth Living

2017 ◽  
pp. 21-42
Author(s):  
Frank Martela
Keyword(s):  
Good Life ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Life Worth Living

scholarly journals Aristotle and Ricœur on Practical Reason

Humanitas ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 151-167
Author(s):  
Gonçalo Marcelo
Keyword(s):  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Practical Reason ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Practical Wisdom ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Practical Philosophy ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Nichomachean Ethics ◽  
Life Worth Living

This paper analyzes the Aristotelian notion of phronesis, such as it appears in Book VI of the Nichomachean Ethics, detailing what sort of model to grasp practical reason it entails: a practical wisdom. Setting it against the backdrop of a reflection on the prevalent uses and meanings of reason today, and the consequence these views have for a depiction of selfhood and human action, the paper shows how, amid the contemporary revival of Aristotelian practical philosophy, Paul Ricœur updates this phronetic model in Oneself as Another. The paper discusses the implications of such a thick account of selfhood and human action, such as it being a potential key to overcome some difficulties caused by Kantian moral philosophy, while it also calls, with and beyond Ricœur, for a refinement of the phronetic model by taking into account not only its thick intersubjective grounding but also the limits to rationality and the need to take the plurality of life forms that can count as being examples of a ‘life worth living’ (a good life).

Successful Aging

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Tesch-Romer ◽  
Hans-Werner Wahl ◽  
Suresh Rattan ◽  
Liat Ayalon
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Good Health ◽  
The Body ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Successful Ageing ◽  
Life Worth Living ◽  
The One

Biological ageing is a progressive decline in physiological functionality, and an increase in the chances of chronic diseases and death. Ageing of the body sets in and happens progressively, exponentially and intrinsically in the period beyond the naturally evolved essential lifespan of a species. Ageing science has searched for the factors securing longevity in good health. An end to this quest is not foreseeable. For a large number, frailty and cognitive impairment is the reality of ageing, and it is by no means certain if health promotion, prevention, and other interventions will reduce the probability of its occurrence. A narrow understanding of ‘successful ageing’ as good health, full functioning, and active participation in society excludes a large portion of ageing individuals from the quest for a good life in old age. Hence, the term is highly ambivalent. On the one hand, it counteracts the deficit view of ageing and facilitates visionary thinking on what might be possible in the future. On the other hand, its ageist and derogative features have negative consequences. Striving for a good life in old age should be inclusive, acknowledging different forms and pathways of ageing. Conceptions of life worth living up to very old age can vary widely, and may include good health and functioning, and also life satisfaction, wisdom, supporting environments, and good care. The discussion on successful ageing needs a multifaceted and pluralistic spirit of discourse, which aims to integrate different models of life-course development into a new narrative of successful ageing.

scholarly journals The good life: living for health and a life without risks? On a prominent script of nutrigenomics

2008 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rixt H. Komduur ◽  
Michiel Korthals ◽  
Hedwig te Molder
Keyword(s):  
Disease Prevention ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Thought Experiment ◽  
Scientific Journal ◽  
Health Anxiety ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Life Worth Living ◽  
The Individual

Like all scientific innovations, nutrigenomics develops through a constant interplay with society. Normative assumptions, embedded in the way researchers formulate strands of nutrigenomics research, affect this interplay. These assumptions may influence norms and values on food and health in our society. To discuss the possible pros and cons of a society with nutrigenomics, we need to reflect ethically on assumptions rooted in nutrigenomics research. To begin with, we analysed a set of scientific journal articles and explicated three normative assumptions embedded in the present nutrigenomics research. First, values regarding food are exclusively explained in terms of disease prevention. Health is therefore a state preceding a sum of possible diseases. Second, it is assumed that health should be explained as an interaction between food and genes. Health is minimised to quantifiable health risks and disease prevention through food–gene interactions. The third assumption is that disease prevention by minimisation of risks is in the hands of the individual and that personal risks, revealed either through tests or belonging to a risk group, will play a large role in disease prevention. Together, these assumptions suggest that the good life (a life worth living, with the means to flourish and thrive) is equated with a healthy life. Our thesis is that these three normative assumptions of nutrigenomics may strengthen the concerns related to healthism, health anxiety, time frames and individual responsibilities for health. We reflect on these ethical issues by confronting them in a thought experiment with alternative, philosophical, views of the good life.

scholarly journals Aristotle and Pedagogical Ethics

Paideusis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-28
Author(s):  
Leena Kakkori ◽  
Rauno Huttunen
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Ethical Code ◽  
Nicomachean Ethics ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Good Teacher ◽  
Good Source ◽  
Life Worth Living

The teacher’s pedagogical ethics refers to the Kantian maxims that a teacher is obliged to follow. One could provide a list of the most crucial maxims that a teacher must absolutely not violate. We surely need these Kantian maxims in the teachers’ pedagogical ethics, although they tell us very little about the properties that good and moral teachers should possess. In teacher education we must of course elaborate on the ethical code of the teacher (maxims), but we must also consider the properties of a morally good teacher. A good source in endeavouring to find these properties is the book Aristotle wrote over 2,000 years ago, Nicomachean Ethics. According to Aristotle, a virtuous citizen must be educated. Without virtues (άρετή) – at least a certain degree of virtues – the polis community is impossible. Virtues are the human properties or action dispositions which facilitate the existence of telos, the purpose of a human being.” The telos of a man is to live a life worth living (eudaimon). Man achieves his telos by living a good life, which is a life lived according to certain virtues. In this article we consider what kind of a person a virtuous teacher is and what kind of a friend she is to her pupils.

scholarly journals Analgesia for Sheep in Commercial Production: Where to Next?

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1127
Author(s):  
Alison Small ◽  
Andrew David Fisher ◽  
Caroline Lee ◽  
Ian Colditz
Keyword(s):  
Research Effort ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Life Worth Living ◽  
The Past ◽  
Considerable Research ◽  
Husbandry Practices ◽  
Industry Practice ◽  
Successful Launch ◽  
Inflammatory Drugs

Increasing societal and customer pressure to provide animals with ‘a life worth living’ continues to apply pressure on livestock production industries to alleviate pain associated with husbandry practices, injury and illness. Over the past 15–20 years, there has been considerable research effort to understand and develop mitigation strategies for painful husbandry procedures in sheep, leading to the successful launch of analgesic approaches specific to sheep in a number of countries. However, even with multi-modal approaches to analgesia, using both local anaesthetic and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), pain is not obliterated, and the challenge of pain mitigation and phasing out of painful husbandry practices remains. It is timely to review and reflect on progress to date in order to strategically focus on the most important challenges, and the avenues which offer the greatest potential to be incorporated into industry practice in a process of continuous improvement. A structured, systematic literature search was carried out, incorporating peer-reviewed scientific literature in the period 2000–2019. An enormous volume of research is underway, testament to the fact that we have not solved the pain and analgesia challenge for any species, including our own. This review has highlighted a number of potential areas for further research.

An Examined Life Worth Living

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Gertrude Reif Hughes ◽  
Hazel Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Worth Living ◽  
Life Worth Living

scholarly journals Diving into the Subconscious of Women and Nature: Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing as an Ecofeminist Novel

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Hyma Santhosh
Keyword(s):  
Margaret Atwood ◽  
Female Gender ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Life Worth Living ◽  
Female Community ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Rapid Industrialization ◽  
Male Dominated ◽  
Self Discovery

Woman and nature can be considered the best creations of god. Both together keep the earth alive and balanced through the process of creation. The male dominated practices have destroyed the nature as well as women. This paper deals with the different aspects of Eco-feminism through the novel Surfacing by Margaret Atwood. The narrator’s quest to the wilderness of Canada in search for her father which leads to a quest of self-discovery in the lap of nature becomes the major focus of this paper. The unknown protagonist becomes a representative of the entire female community. The realization that women are just an object to be conquered and violated by men is what leads to the ‘surfacing’ of the protagonist. In complete harmony with nature excluding clothes, language, food etc. the protagonist goes crazy which gives her more happiness that with her other relationships. The paper also tries to analyse the close relationship between women and nature and how the virgin nature and woman are destroyed by the invasion of the male community. Repressed gender roles, submissiveness, self-realization through nature and the challenges faced by women that are presented. The concept of women and nature as both victims of the male dominated society is also emphasized. This novel is the perfect literary example of an Eco-feminist work that portrays the destruction of women and nature even in the minutest episodes in the novel. Nature is a treasure-house of many myths that lay hidden in the beliefs, rights and rituals of the aboriginals which are passed from one generation to another. In the same manner women also are the sustainer's of many myths that the male society has made upon her. The mother i.e. both woman and nature is examined here.In a vast country like Canada,nature comprises to its majority through its wilderness.This wilderness hides many priceless virtues and knowledge that can be learnt only in complete harmony with nature.Surfacing is not just the journey of a woman but it is the quest that the female gender thrives for.This paper combines the theories of eco-criticism, eco-feminism and to analyse the novel Surfacing into a biological whole that merges nature, man and the beliefs of man that make existence meaningful and life worth living. In an era of rapid industrialization and materialism, it is necessary to go on a quest back to nature and learn how life was easier in the lap of nature. Great writers like Shakespeare,Chaucer and Wordsworth were able to carve out such master pieces only because of their relationship with the purest and virgin nature which is the greatest teacher for mankind of all times.

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