What turns a human life into a flourishing human life? Sometimes we might ask, “What is happiness?” But in this last unit we are going to focus on what is required for a human life to flourish. “What is an excellent way to live (as opposed to a non-excellent ways to live)?” In this class you will be introduced to three different general answers to this question. You will also become familiar with particular ways to amend each general answer in order to address specific objections.
i. Hedonism: A excellent human life is one in which the individual experiences more pleasure than pain.
ii. Desire-Satisfaction: An excellent human life is one in which the individual’s desires are satisfied.
iii. Objective-List: An excellent human life is one in which the individual has satisfied a list of objective goods.
By the end of the lecture you should:
1. Be able to compare and contrast three different answers to the question, “What is required for a flourishing human life?”
2. Be able to locate which sort of answer you find, at first glance, plausible. Which do you initially agree with and why?
3. Be able to describe specific objections to the answer that you initially agree with.
Consider the following questions, write your responses in your journal, and talk about them with a friend:
1. What do you believe it takes to flourish? Do you have any evidence, or arguments, to support your answer? If so, how strong is your evidence, or arguments? Would it persuade someone else?
2. Whose responsibility is it for whether you flourish? How might your social location play a role in whether you have real opportunities to flourish? Are most people just morally unlucky such that they just won’t have enough opportunities to opt-into flourishing?
3. What would flourishing under non-ideal conditions (because of political oppression, moral injury, or trauma) look like?