Summary
Highlights
This unit will define human flourishing from philosophical and modern viewpoints, familiarize viewers with Greek philosophers' opinions on virtue, appreciate technology's application in relation to human flourishing, and explain the connection between human flourishing and science and technology. The discussion starts by prompting reflection on personal happiness and its definition.
To understand STS, it's crucial to understand human nature, needs, and how to meet them. Aristotle defined man as a rational animal, capable of thought and reason, existing in both the spiritual and physical worlds. Human flourishing is defined as the effort to achieve self-actualization and fulfillment within a community, encompassing uniqueness, dignity, diversity, freedom, happiness, and holistic well-being throughout a lifelong journey.
Plato and Aristotle are key Greek philosophers who tackled the concept of a flourishing life, which they called eudaimonia, often associated with happiness. Eudaimonia, meaning prosperity, good fortune, or happiness, is a central concept in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, representing the innate potential of individuals to live a life of enduring happiness, wisdom, well-being, and love.
Socrates believed virtue was a form of knowledge, specifically of good and evil, and was essential for achieving eudaimonia. Plato argued that individuals feel unhappiness when doing wrong and that eudaimonia is the ultimate aim of moral thought and virtuous action. He emphasized that true flourishing does not depend on external goods like fame or wealth.
Plato proposed three ways to develop virtue: examining life and thinking more, using reason to control desires, and living by the four cardinal virtues: wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice. Wisdom comes from curiosity-driven learning, courage is needed for justice and facing challenges, and temperance (self-restraint) prevents corruption and bias.
Aristotle believed that happiness could be identified with virtue, practical wisdom, or philosophic wisdom, often accompanied by pleasure and external prosperity. He asserted that a thing's highest good lies in the perfect performance of its characteristic function, and for humans, this function is the ability to reason. He identified four aspects of human nature: physical, emotional, social, and rational.
Aristotle outlined two types of human excellencies: intellectual virtues (excellences of thought) and virtues of character. Intellectual virtue, gained through reason and the pursuit of knowledge, involves theoretical knowledge (understanding principles) and practical knowledge (applying principles). Virtue of character is a settled condition balancing feelings and actions, avoiding excess or defect. For Aristotle, flourishing requires possessing intellectual virtues and 11 character traits like courage, temperance, justice, and truthfulness.