PHIL160D1

035846

We all want to live good lives. To have a good life, in the sense I have in mind, is to be happy, where `happiness' is understood in something like the sense in which the Declaration of Independence proclaims that we each have an inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. But what is it to live a good life? What is it to be happy? To the extent that the kind of life you live is up to you, this is a pressing question. If you take the question seriously, others soon follow. To what extent is it up to me whether or not my life is a good one? It's tempting to think that moral obligations can conflict with your living a good life, so that you have to choose between doing what is right and doing what would make you happy. But can such conflicts arise? And, if so, which should one choose? How, if at all, does your ability to live a good life depend on the particular society in which you live? These, and other questions about justice and the good life, have long occupied philosophers. In this course, we will, together, explore these questions, drawing on what four great philosophers have to say about them: Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Mill.

GRD - Regular Grades A, B, C, D, E

Undergraduate

GE - T1-TRAD (Tier 1 Traditions and Cultures), GEED - EPHUM (Gen Ed: EP Humanist)

015886