Abstract
Man, by nature, desires to live a good and happy life. But often times, the enduring quest for the blissful and delightful, eludes man. This constant questing and concurrent yearning make man restless, until his hopes and aspirations of the good or happy life, are crowned with an éclat. But, can man ever attain or realize this feat in the society? Is the idea of the good life, a mirage, a myth or reality? Even more seriously, what does the good life really entail? Is it predicated on material things, that is, on the mundane? Or is the good life, a kind of utopia, an ideal that seeks to bring to the glare of publicity, the “oughts” of life as the case may be? Since the idea of the good life is something well-defined, does it also imply that there is such a thing as the bad life? If, such exist, what would it consist of? Armed with these cogitations, this paper, attempts an expository-comparative study of the good life, its constitutive elements and its attainability in the thoughts of two distinguished philosophers: Confucius (in the East) and Aristotle (in the West).
Highlights
Occupying a conspicuous stead, among the multifarious concatenation of issues that frequents the carte du jour of moral philosophy, is the notion of “bonum vitae” (Ogar et al, 2016; Ushie 2018; Udoudom et al, 2018)
We set out to delineate the idea of the good life in Aristotle and Confucius, and to attempt a comparative study of both viewpoints
When we place Aristotle vis-à-vis Confucius, we feel amazed that the two great philosophers, who lived worlds apart, both tackled similar issues, which are quite relevant to us today
Summary
Among the multifarious concatenation of issues that frequents the carte du jour of moral philosophy, is the notion of “bonum vitae” (the good life) (Ogar et al, 2016; Ushie 2018; Udoudom et al, 2018). As a brief recapitulation on the constitutive elements of the good life in Aristotle’s philosophy, it is germane, to mark cursorily, the following notions: happiness (eudaimonia), virtue (aretē), contemplation (theoria/contemplata), the golden mean (via media), practical wisdom (phronesis) and good deliberation (euboulia) It is these concepts, that serve as missing links to the attainment of the bonum vitae (good life), in Aristotle’s thoughts. Both the internal and external mean, are implicated in the practice of virtue and in the pursuit of the good or happy life From this structural similarity, we find that both Aristotle and Confucius’ ideas, aim at hitting the target, not necessarily hitting somewhere in the middle, but hitting on the right point (like the pattern of archery). For a vivid grasp of the areas that they interweave, a schematization is apposite: Aristotle
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