University of St. Thomas
Philosophy Department
The Good Life
According to Aristotle and Plato
Heather Abadie
Philosophy 2314
Dr. Oliva
Philosophers and humans over the course of existence have continued to contemplate the meaning of life. While it is important to consider the question “what is the meaning of life” – there is possibly an even greater question – “what does it mean to live a good life?” Is the contemplation and understanding of the meaning of life enough, or is it important to uncover whether or not one is living a life worth living – a good life? Before studying Aristotle and Plato’s philosophical views on what it means to live a good life, I had my own ideas of what the good life looks like – and I felt that there …show more content…
According to Plato, wisdom is the key to living the good life. By having the wisdom to use virtues, we act as virtuous beings, and live virtuous lives – which is defined as Plato as living a good life. It is by this definition we understand that only a morally good person can be happy, and goodness is a result of the soul functioning properly. But how does a soul function properly? While Plato uses many examples to explain his theory, I find the Allegory of The Cave to be very powerful. Living a life without attempting to gain knowledge may be easy and comfortable, but it is certainly not a life worth living. The humans in the cave were resistant to learning about what existed outside of the cave, and thought the man who came back to tell them about the outside world was crazy. There are two realms, according to Plato: the sensible realm, which is where images of objects, and objects exist (visible things), and there is the intelligible realm, which is where math, concepts, and ideas exist. Plato describes the sensible realm as the realm of belief, and the intelligible realm as the realm of real knowledge, which is far superior to the material
Philosophy Department
The Good Life
According to Aristotle and Plato
Heather Abadie
Philosophy 2314
Dr. Oliva
Philosophers and humans over the course of existence have continued to contemplate the meaning of life. While it is important to consider the question “what is the meaning of life” – there is possibly an even greater question – “what does it mean to live a good life?” Is the contemplation and understanding of the meaning of life enough, or is it important to uncover whether or not one is living a life worth living – a good life? Before studying Aristotle and Plato’s philosophical views on what it means to live a good life, I had my own ideas of what the good life looks like – and I felt that there …show more content…
According to Plato, wisdom is the key to living the good life. By having the wisdom to use virtues, we act as virtuous beings, and live virtuous lives – which is defined as Plato as living a good life. It is by this definition we understand that only a morally good person can be happy, and goodness is a result of the soul functioning properly. But how does a soul function properly? While Plato uses many examples to explain his theory, I find the Allegory of The Cave to be very powerful. Living a life without attempting to gain knowledge may be easy and comfortable, but it is certainly not a life worth living. The humans in the cave were resistant to learning about what existed outside of the cave, and thought the man who came back to tell them about the outside world was crazy. There are two realms, according to Plato: the sensible realm, which is where images of objects, and objects exist (visible things), and there is the intelligible realm, which is where math, concepts, and ideas exist. Plato describes the sensible realm as the realm of belief, and the intelligible realm as the realm of real knowledge, which is far superior to the material