What Does a Good Life Look Like?
We would probably all agree that pleasure is experienced as good and pain is experienced as bad. And everyone would probably agree that arbitrarily inflicting pain on someone or some group of people is wrong. Thus, a pain-filled life is not the kind of life that anyone would choose to live or think of as a good life. Is pleasure then, and the absence of pain, the chief characteristic of a good life? If they were, what would such a life look like? Would it be a life that seeks to minimize pain? Or, one that seeks to maximize pleasure? Would these make for a fulfilling life?
Happiness seems to be an unequivocal good. But, what is happiness? Happiness seems to involve pleasure, and the absence of pain, but are there other components of happiness? While a happy life would be a good life, is that the same as a morally good life? Imagine someone who was secretly stealing from others and who never got caught. Would such a person’s life be a happy one? Could one live a happy life that was immoral or is living morally or virtuously a necessary component of a happy life?
Some studies have suggested that there are “healthy” and “unhealthy” kinds of happiness, meaning that there are biological, and not only psychological, benefits from different kinds of happiness. A pleasure-seeking, fun-filled life can be enjoyable, but is it the best kind of life? Many people would say that what’s important to living well is having a sense of purpose and other sources of meaning in life, such as, important and fulfilling relationships, participating constructively in one’s community, feeling respected, and so on. If that’s right, then finding meaning would be essential to living a good life.
