Human Flourishing - PDF

U N I T I V. HUMAN FLOURISHING DR. JULIUS JAY N. RODRIGUEZ, LPT, MAT-Sc Faculty, NEUST – CAS-MSD LEARNING OBJECTIVES: At the end of the unit, you should be able to: 1. define flourishing in philosopher point of view and modern world concept; 2. familiarize with the two Gree...

U N I T I V. HUMAN FLOURISHING DR. JULIUS JAY N. RODRIGUEZ, LPT, MAT-Sc Faculty, NEUST – CAS-MSD LEARNING OBJECTIVES: At the end of the unit, you should be able to: 1. define flourishing in philosopher point of view and modern world concept; 2. familiarize with the two Greek philosophers and their opinion on virtue; 3. appreciate the application of technology and its relation to human flourishing; and 4. explain the connection of human flouring to science and technology SETTING UP ACTIVITY! 1. Have you asked yourself if you are happy? 2. What is your own definition of happiness? 3. When is the last time you feel happy and how did you feel it? 4. What makes you happy? HUMAN BEING Ø A man, woman, or child of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other animals by superior mental development, power of articulate speech, and upright stance. ØAccording to Aristotle, man is defined as a rational animal. ØMan is a creature whose destiny is to live in the spiritual world and physical world. WHAT IS HUMAN FLOURISHING? 1. Human flourishing is defined as an effort to achieve self- actualization and fulfillment within the context of a larger community of individuals, each with the right to pursue his or her own such efforts. 2. It encompasses the uniqueness, dignity, diversity, freedom, happiness, and holistic well-being of the individual within the larger family, community, and population. 3. It involves the rational use of one's individual human potentialities, including talents, abilities, and virtues in the pursuit of his freely and rationally chosen values and goals. HUMAN FLOURISHING: BASED ON ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS’ PERSPECTIVE. ØP L ATO a n d A R I S TOT L E : Two o f t h e m o s t recognized Greek Philosophers that tries to answer the question. ØThese great philosophers called flourishing life as “EUDAIMONIA”; it is usually associated with HAPPINESS. ØFor them, happiness is the result of eudaimonia or human flourishing. WHAT IS EUDAIMONIA? ØEudaimonia, also spelled eudaemonia, in Aristotelian ethics, the condition of human flourishing or of living well. ØIn its simplest (translated) form, eudaimonia is often taken to mean h ap p i n e s s ( D e c i & R y a n , 2 0 0 6 ; H u t a & Wa t e r m a n , 2 0 1 4 ; Heintzelman, 2018). ØSometimes it is translated from the original ancient Greek as welfare, sometimes flourishing, and sometimes as well-being (Kraut, 2018). ØThe concept of Eudaimonia comes from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, his philosophical work on the ‘science of happiness’ (Irwin, 2012). SOCRATES ON EUDAIMONIA ØSocrates, like Plato, believed that virtue (or arête, the very idea of virtue) was a form of knowledge—specifically, a knowledge of good and evil (Bobonich, 2010). That is, he saw numerous virtues—justice, piety, courage as united. That is, all were one, and they were all knowledge. ØSocrates viewed this knowledge as required for us as humans to achieve the ‘ultimate good’, which was eudaimonia. And by ‘us’, Socrates meant the individual (Waterman, 1993; Deci & Ryan, 2006). PLATO AND EUDAIMONISM ØPlato believed that individuals naturally feel unhappiness when they do something they know and acknowledge to be wrong (Price, 2011). Eudaimonia, according to Plato, was the highest and ultimate aim of both moral thought and behavior/virtuous action. ØAs with Socrates, he saw virtue as integral to eudaimonia. Ø VIRTUE – trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good. PLATO AND EUDAIMONISM According to Plato, Human being can develop virtue by the following: 1. By examining things and thinking more 2. By masterly using reason 3. By living the Four Cardinal Virtues (Wisdom, Courage, Temperance, Justice) ARISTOTELIAN EUDAIMONIA If you could ask Aristotle himself what happiness is, this is exactly what he’d say: “…Some identify happiness with virtue, some with practical wisdom, others with a kind of philosophic wisdom, others with these, or one of these, accompanied by pleasure or not without pleasure; while others include also external prosperity…it is not probable that…these should be entirely mistaken, but rather that they should be right in at least some one respect or even in most respects.” Aristotle , Nichomacean Ethics, Book I, Chapter 8 (excerpt from Nothingistic.org, 2019) WHAT ARE THE ASPECTS OF HUMAN NATURE? There are four aspects of Human nature according to Aristotle. 1. Physical 2. Emotional 3. Social 4. Rational HOW DOES HUMAN BECOME MORE VIRTUOUS? ØA virtuous life can be attained through education and habit. ØIn summar y, when an individual possesses I N T E L L E C T UA L V I RT U E a n d V I RT U E S O F CHARACTER, he or she will attain EUDAIMONIA or HUMAN FLOURISHING. INTELLECTUAL VIRTUE ØIntellectual vir tue is an excellent personal trait or character strength that is deemed to be morally good for thinking and learning and is often associated with knowledge and cognitive ability. TWO (2) TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE: 1. Theoretical knowledge. ØThis type of knowledge is about the nature of the principle. 2. Practical knowledge. ØThis is the knowledge of applying principles. VIRTUE OF CHARACTER Aristotle defines virtuous character in Nicomachean Ethics II.6: Excellence [of character], then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in whic h the man of practical wisdom (phronimos) would determine it. Now it is a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect. ELEVEN (11) VIRTUOUS TRAITS: Courage Temperance Liberality Magnificence Magnanimity Patience Truthfulness Wittiness Friendliness Justice Shame  Eudaimonia Intellectual Virtues of or Human Virtues Character Flourishing THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS   