Good Life
Our concern with actual observations
which can be used in scientific analysis causes us to regularly point to
well-being
as a goal of human behavior. The less clinical term, good life, commonly
applied as a human goal, may be more comfortable for some. "The good life
may refer to the experience of an individual, of a human community such
as a family or other kinship group, a neighborhood, a city, state or to
the good life universal. The essence of the idea is that there exists a
pattern of conduct which, if followed, will provide advantage for its devotees.
(Nearing)
Several assumptions lie
behind the idea of a good life. The [first] is that one way of life is
more rewarding, individually or collectively, than others. A second assumption
is that human beings are able to distinguish that which is good from that
which is not so good. A third assumption is that [humans] are equipped
to choose between the bad and the good. A fourth, and crucial assumption,
is that of Socrates---[humans] knowing the difference between bad and good
will choose the good. There is a fifth assumption, of supreme importance,
that [humans] who chooses the good will seek to shape [their] life and
that of [their] fellows in accordance with the requirements of the choice
[they] made. A sixth assumption is that a human being who fails today,
in his efforts to achieve a good life, may try again tomorrow. The seventh
assumption is that through effort, experiment and experience [humans] will
grow to a stature which makes the good life more attractive as well as
more attainable.
The author of this good life
definition warns us of the personal dangers inherent in the fifth good
life assumption. Scott Nearing writes in 1974
of events in his life in 1914-17.
I was convinced that opposition
to a social situation is futile and foolish unless it is accompanied by
a statement of alternative and an effort to bring an alternative into being.
[In an effort to carry out this belief] I lost four good academic jobs
in rapid succession, . . . saw my text books taken from the schools, [and
was] ostracised by the makers of public opinion.
(Directory)
March 20, 2000