Question Philosophy begins as a search for what constitutes a, or the, "good life". Does that concept have any meaning today and if it does (as I believe it does), why are professional philosophers (I am not a philosopher) more competent to answer it than any layperson who ponders the question? Pablo Santiago de Chile

Accepted:
November 10, 2005

Comments

Not all philosophy begins as a search for a/the good life, though I suppose our interest in a/the good life may nonetheless play some role. As Aristotle says (in the beginning of his Metaphysics), philosophy begins in wonder--and we can wonder about nearly anything.

I certainly don't think that non-philosophers will automatically do a bad job of thinking about this subject--or even at achieving some semblance of a good life. Philosophers are smart people--but smart people can sometimes "outsmart" themselves by becoming enamored of their own thoughts to such a degree that they get devoted to their own errors. Granting this, however, philosophers who do think about this question (a central theme in ancient Greek philosophy, by the way) derive some real advantage from their learning. Part of what we do, as philosophers, is devote lots of time and energy thinking about what other smart people have said on the issues that interest us. So, we have the advantage of constant contact (through reading and discussion with one another that others may not have the time for, given the necessities of life) with other thoughtful and smart people. So, if we remain humble enough to subject even our own most cherished views to critical scrutiny (or to invite others to subject our views to such critical scrutiny), we may indeed become more competent in our judgments than we could have been otherwise.

Lots of philosophers are still very interested in this question. Even so, I would recommend a very old book to you, as a good place to start: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. As far as I am concerned, this remains the single best work on the subject that has ever been written.