Drunken Philosophy: What do you need to live a good life?
Details
Welcome to Drunken Philosophy, a casual, curious, social discussion club. Come grab a drink and a seat at The Oracle.
We certainly live in an age of plenty--you might say however there is too much of some things e.g. "news" and social media. Ancient philosophers presented various arguments for what is necessary to make a good life: very generally--the Stoics said only virtue or living according to nature was the way to live a good life, eudaimonia in Ancient Greek; Aristotle maintained that you need to have more worldly assets to live a good life; Epicurus said that the elimination of "pain" provided a good life while pursuing basic pleasures--he DID NOT advocate "sex, drugs and rock and roll", those were the Cyrenaics! Taoism stresses non-resistance and "going with the flow" while Confucius stressed ritual and discipline. Of course these are VERY general statements and all are much deeper philosophies. For our purposes: what level of physical goods/pleasures are needed to live a good life beyond the basics of food, water, shelter and clothing? Examples beyond these basics include: money, housing, education, cars, technology, love, friends, etc. Then there is the question of "virtue": can you live a good life while lying, stealing, cheating or even worse? Two examples leap out: Elon Musk, the wealthiest person on earth seems to be a miserable person and trump is a vile person with vast wealth--would you trade places with either of them? (I would with trump just to reverse the incredibly vicious and stupid decisions and policies of his). Sorry for the politics but they just seemed to be good examples of the main question. So, I hope this prompts some good discussion. See you Saturday at the Oracle!
As always the prompt is optional. Come for the conversation, stay for the drinks, and bring your own questions.
