Aristotle – How to live a good life • Hacker News Board

Re: Aristotle – How to live a good life

#181

Post by timacles » Mon, Aug 19, 2024, 6:28 PM UTC

z3t4 wrote: post #2

My empirical study of happy people comes down to these three points: * Have low expectations * Enjoy simple things * Don't care too much

Happy simple people maybe.

You have to take into account the difference of each mind's disposition between people. There are people who would just read those 3 bullet points and be disgusted. Some people need an empty pointless life and are "happy". Some people need struggle, challenge and difficulty, otherwise they cant be happy.

People and minds are extremely complicated. To me, having low expectations and not caring too much is a sign of a defeated person with no spirit. That is sad

Re: Aristotle – How to live a good life

#182

Post by kbelder » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 10:35 PM UTC

hasbot wrote: post #177

kbelder wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All those times you are confronted with choices that boil down to "I should do this, but I want to do that..." Do what you should do. Many or most of our choices that matter are that simple, but we work really hard to confuse ourselves, to justify and rationalize the choice we want, because that's what we want. If our choices are difficult because it really is honestly difficult to tell what the right thing is, then…

So, just finish drawing the owl. Got it! Good discussion.

Nope, not what I was saying. I'm saying that distinguishing right from wrong is usually the easy part of the process. It's the 'draw two circles' step.

Not deceiving yourself about the result is the hard part. That's a psychological problem, not a philosophical problem.

Re: Aristotle – How to live a good life

#183

Post by rubymamis » Wed, Aug 28, 2024, 3:39 PM UTC

dcre wrote: post #110

GTP wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the first category needs some explanation. I have a realtive that relies on his own understanding... Way too much, to the point that he assumes to be right too often and so is mostly unable to listen to advice. Does he fall in the first or in the last category? I would put him in the last, but note that the heart of the problem is relying to one own understanding without considering the possibility of being wro…

The key to understanding this properly is that the “understanding” in the first category is taken to be right, good understanding, which by stipulation your relative does not have. When Aristotle means someone’s own opinion, he uses a different word like “doxa”, how things appear to people, which is translated as belief or opinion.

Exactly. The quote from Hesiod comes after mentioning people with "with the right upbringing", that is, people whose "understanding" is already sound.