NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Cabanatuan City
ISO 9001:2015 Certified
College of Arts and Sciences
Mathematics and Science Department

Module in

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY,
& SOCIETY
UNIT V.
THE GOOD LIFE

Danny O. Alfonso Cristo Mark D. Ancheta Roel S. Ang

Leonardo M. Aquino Bryan Joshua V. Bacani Joseph R. Del Carmen
Jaynelle G. Domingo Angel Joyce C. Fajardo Gian Carlo S. Gaetos
Alpha B. Gumayagay Jewell Ann P. Manabat Darwin U. Ong
Olympia O. Riogelon Julius Jay N. Rodriguez Janina C. Sercenia
Glenda R. Tandingan Diwata Y. Villaflor

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This module is a property of the Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology
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Overview

In this unit, you will learn about what different schools of thought and individuals consider as the “good
life” and its accompanying limitations and responsibilities. These will help you identify the ways of how
you can enjoy a good life through science and technology within the bounds of society’s moral principles
and ethical standards.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the unit, I am able to:

1. define what is the “good life”; and
2. examine shared concerns that make up the good life to come up with innovative, creative
solutions to contemporary issues guided by ethical standards

Setting Up

Name: _____________________________________________ Date: ________________________

Course/Year/Section: ___________________________

Directions: Everyone has a different definition of what having a “Good Life” looks like. Have you considered
what a good life is like? To help you answer the following questions on the space provided.

1. What does living a “Good Life” mean to you? (When can you say that a person is actually living a
good life?)

I think living a good life is when you live your life contentedly and welcome everyday as a blessing.
Having a good life means I am loved by my family and I am not alone to tackle my challenges. I have
them to comfort me and made me feel safe. For me, living a good life is when you succeed in
reaching your everyday goals, be it trivial or big as long as it makes you and your loved ones happy.
I think a person is actually living a good life when his doing things he love to do and he is satisfied
with it.

2. Do you believe that you are living a good life right now? Why or why not?

At this point in my life, I think that I’m living a good life and having a good time doing what makes
me happy and content. As a college student, I am confident that I could finish my chosen degree
with the support of my family and peers. I have a happy and caring family which I could rely on
whenever I have challenges that I can’t tackle by myself.

3. What role do you think science and technology plays in helping people achieve what they think is a
good life?

Science and technology leads to a good life because it improves the different sectors of the
country’s economy. Science and technology creates various inventions that made our lives more
convenient. These inventions and technological enhancements creates more jobs and livelihoods to
people. At home, science and technology made our chores easy and brought convenience to our
family.

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 Lesson Proper

The Good Life

As you may have realized in the previous activity, the answer to the question, “What is a Good Life?”
varies among individuals. It can also vary among people from different places, cultures, and schools of
philosophy! The time or period during which a person lives will also affect how he or she defines a good
life. For example, do you think a person living in the 16th century England will have the same idea of a
good life as a person living in the Philippines during the present day? Of course, not!

Let us begin by discussing the three main ideas that address the good life: The Moral Life, The
Fulfilled Life, and The Life of Pleasure.

The Moral Life is a concept of the good life introduced by Socrates and Plato. Are you familiar with
these two philosophers? To give you a bit of a background, Socrates is a Greek philosopher who is also
considered as the father of western philosophy. Plato was his most famous student and apprentice
(Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2009)

According to them, a person who has a good life is someone who possesses and practices the most
important virtues. These virtues are courage, kindness, loyalty, and generosity. They believed being
virtuous is superior overall supposedly good things like pleasure, power, or wealth. The concept of the
Moral Life as a good life also believes that:
• Questioning, reflecting, and examining the nature of things is important in order to have a good life.
• Servitude to others is essential.
• To have a good life, one must have full control of his or her desires and passions with proper reason.

Aristotle, another famous philosopher that I’m sure you are familiar with, claims that a good life is
The Fulfilled Life. Aristotle is the student of Plato. Aristotle views the good life more comprehensively
and that it all boils down to man’s desire to be happy. He believes that someone has a good life if he or
she:

• is morally virtuous
• has a good health and long life
• leads a prosperous lifestyle
• has good friends
• respects other people
• has good luck or fortune, and
• is able to use his or her abilities, talents, and capacities.

According to this theory, we value things because they are a means to achieve other things. For
example, we value money because it allows us to buy our needs and wants. We value leisure because it
lets us rest and has time to pursue our interests. However, happiness is something we value in itself and
not because we get something else when we have it. In other words, the value of happiness is intrinsic
rather than instrumental (Westacott, 2020).

Last but not the least, another philosopher named Epicurus suggested the concept of The Life of
Pleasure. According to him, life is worth living because of pleasures. Pleasure can be defined as a mental
state that is enjoyable, positive, and worth seeking. This view that pleasure leads to a good life or that
pleasure is what makes life worth living, is known as hedonism (Westacott, 2020) There are many kinds
of pleasures in this world, some of which are wealth, fame, food, and sexual pleasures. Calling someone a
hedonist often has a negative connotation because it suggests that he or she is devoted to “lower”
pleasures like food, drinks, sex, and other sensual indulgences.

Although Epicurus thinks these can give a person a good life, he also believes that a person should
not lose himself or herself to pleasures because:
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 1. This will reduce one’s pleasure in the long run
2. Pleasure from things like friendship and education are more important.
3. Everyone should live a virtuous life.

There are Three Aspects of Good Life, namely self-mastery, servitude to society, and
contemplation, and learning. The good life is said to be an integration of these aspects, disregarding
the hedonistic idea mentioned earlier.

Ethics and Ethical Standards

Now that you have a background on “What is a Good Life”, the next question is : “How should I
live?”.
The answer to this question is a matter of Ethics. Ethics is the system of moral principles,
meaning a standard for choosing between right and wrong. It is mainly concerned with what is good for
an individual, or yourself, and the society (BBC, 2014). It is the key in solving the following dilemmas:

a. How to live a good life

b. Knowing your rights and responsibilities
c. The language of right and wrong
d. Identifying what is good and what is bad

Since humans are set apart from other creatures because of the ability to reason out and the
capacity to observe rational thinking, this idea of right and wrong and living an ethical life is unique.
Ethics provides a foundation for answering complex questions and allowing humans to behave and act
according to moral principles.

For example, all of us encounter ethical dilemmas in our everyday lives. These are situations in
which a difficult choice or decision must be made between two or more alternatives, especially equally
undesirable ones. It is important that whatever we do or say is based on moral principles. Here are
some ethical dilemmas that you can think about:

1. Will you tell your parents or guardians about getting low or failing grades in some of your subjects?

Yes, I will tell my parents that I get low and failing grades in some of my subjects. It is better that I should tell the
truth because the problem will not be solved if I lie to them. I will explain to them why I failed and promised that
I’ll do my best the next time.

2. Do you think it is okay to eat in fancy restaurants when some people have nothing to eat?

For me, it’s okay to eat in a fancy restaurants if you can afford it. It’s not a sin if you splurge on something if you
have the money to spend on it and if what you do will not bring harm to anybody. On the other hand, you have a
moral obligation to help someone in need and your conscience dictates to help those in need.

3. If you find out that your friend’s partner is cheating, will you tell your friend about it even though you
know it will hurt him/her?

If I do verify that my friend’s partner is cheating, I will tell my friend about it. Of course, he will be hurt but I think
he will be hurt more if he found it out later into their relationship where he invested so much time and emotion.
It’s better he heard from me than from anybody else where lies maybe added to the the real story.

After trying to answer and think about these ethical dilemmas, consider what made you choose your
final decisions. Is it for the good of yourself and your loved ones, or is it based on the good and bad

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standards set by the society around you? You are more likely to realize that it is often a combination of
both.
The Role of Ethics in Innovation

Question: Do you think Ethics is important in innovation? Why or why not?

Yes, Ethics is important in innovation. People should be responsible in creating innovation. Innovation does a lot
of good for the society, but some by-products of it maybe destructive to the society as well. For example, social
media and the likes can invade our privacy that sometimes lead to negative effect on people involved. Another is
innovation on warfare, countries should have moral obligation in creating weapons because nowadays modern
weapons can destruct or wipe out an entire island in a flicker. This shows how important ethics is in innovation,
it became a criteria or a decisive factor before an innovation can be completed.

Before we discuss the role of ethics in innovation, let us first understand what innovation is (Callegaro,
2017).

1. Divergence
The goal of innovation is to change the status quo of the ways we have been used to it. It aims to
create and develop new concepts, ideas, and methods, therefore diverging from common. Through
this, different problems and issues can be solved using new and maybe even better approaches and
solutions.

2. Curiosity
Aristotle once said that our curiosity allows us to search for our intellectual virtues. Curiosity
urges us to examine things closely, probe, explore ideas, and ultimately gain new knowledge. In
other words, innovation begins with curiosity.

Intellectual virtues are excellent character strengths or personal traits considered to be morally
good for thinking and learning. These are often associated with knowledge and cognitive ability
(King, 2014). Good thinking and learning also require traits like being intellectually honest, humble,
careful, and attentive. These are all intellectual virtues.

3. Multi-disciplinary
To come up with any innovative solution, you should be able to look at a problem from multiple
perspectives, or a multi-disciplinary approach must be applied. This provides us with a deeper
understanding of the problem and a more holistic idea about potential solutions. This can be made
possible through the collaboration of experts and people with diverse skills and backgrounds.

4. Resilience
Innovation is not a one-time task and is often a product of many trial and error experiments.
Innovators must be resilient, persistent, and determined to keep testing ideas and continue the
process despite many failed attempts and mistakes.

5. Effect to people
Innovators must also think about the effect or impact of their innovation to people. Of course,
the goal is to benefit all end-users since the people or the end-users are the ultimate judges if the
innovation is relevant, helpful, and useful to them.

6. Shared responsibility
However, we must also remember that any innovation's success is a shared responsibility
between the innovator and the community. The innovator’s intention should be for the common
good and benefit of the community. Likewise, the community should make sure to use the
innovation responsibly.

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 What is the distinction between technology and innovation?

Innovation is a human-centered perspective and process. It is the formulation of new

concepts, ideas, and methods to provide solutions to problems.

Technology, on the other hand, can be a product of innovation. It is the application of

scientific knowledge for practical purposes. Therefore, technology is an essential part of innovative
development (Callegaro, A. 2017).

Economic gain and technological advancement should not be the sole consideration of
innovation. It should also be ethical. Innovation can affect people in many different ways and impact
many aspects of our lives, such as our health, communication, education, politics, and justice system.
Thus, innovation should be accomplished within the bounds of an ethical framework.

Innovations are considered ethical innovations if they possess the following characteristics
(Brown & Wyatt, 2010):
• Humanistic
Innovations should be human-centered. Meaning, it should be helpful, useful, and relevant to the
people for which it is intended.

• Participatory
The process of planning, designing, and creating innovations should be done with the people
and not just for the people.

• Sustainable
Innovations are only ever important and necessary if they could be sustained for a long
period of time considering political, social, economical, and environmental aspects.

So, how can we relate the Good Life, Ethics, and Innovation to each other?

To further understand the lesson, please read this UNEP report with the title, “Towards a
Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication”
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/126GER_synthesis_en.pdf

After reading the Online Article, discuss your answer to the following questions:

• How can we relate the green economy to sustainable development?

The green economy is an important tool for achieving sustainable development. A green economy should
contribute to eradicating poverty, enhancing social inclusion, improving human welfare and creating
opportunities for employment and decent work for all, while maintaining the healthy functioning of the
Earth. It provides a macro-economic approach to sustainable economic growth with a central focus on
investments, employment and skills. Green economy does not replace sustainable development, but creates a
new focus on the economy, investment, capital and infrastructure and positive social and environmental
outcomes across Asia and the Pacific. Through green economy in the context of sustainable development and
poverty eradication, country involved will enhance its ability to manage natural resources sustainably and
with lower negative environmental impacts, increase resource efficiency and reduce waste.

• What are the main principles of the green economy?

UNEP defines a green economy as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while
significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. Basically, a green economy is one which
is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive. In a green economy, growth in income and
employment should be driven by public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution,
enhance energy and resource efficiency, and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. These

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 investments need to be catalyzed and supported by targeted public expenditure, policy reforms and
regulation changes. The development path should maintain, enhance and, where necessary, rebuild natural
capital as a critical economic asset and as a source of public benefits, especially for poor people whose
livelihoods and security depend on nature. The concept of a “green economy” does not replace sustainable
development, but there is now a growing recognition that achieving sustainability rests almost entirely on
getting the economy right.

• In what ways can a green economy contribute to achieving a good life for people and the society?

Green economy can contribute to achieving a good life for people and the society because green economy if
sustained can result in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing
environmental risks and ecological scarcities. People will not be worried anymore on climate change effect
or natural resources running out because environment will be taken care of by green economy. Through
this, we will have a sustainable economy that provides a better quality of life for all people.

Conclusion/ Summary

Living a good life is a part of human flourishing. Without focusing on self-pleasure (the
hedonistic approach), the good life is a combination of self-mastery, servitude to the society, and
contemplation and learning.

Ethics helps us answer the question, “How should I live?”. It is a system of moral principles
for considering what is good for oneself and society and other people.

Innovation is a human-centered perspective and process. It is the formulation of new

concepts, ideas, and methods to provide solutions to humanity’s problems. It also plays a role in
achieving a Good Life. However, to attain a good life though innovation, our decisions must be based
on ethical standards and moral principles.

References

Ancient History Encyclopedia (2009). Socrates. Retrieved from

https://www.ancient.eu/socrates/#:~:text=Socrates%20(469%2F470%2D399,356%2D323%20BCE)
on July 20, 2020
BBC (2014). Ethics - Introduction to ethics: Ethics: A general introduction. Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/intro_1.shtml on July 21, 2020.
Brown, T. & Wyatt, J (2010) DesignThinking for Social Innovation. Stanford Social Innovation Review
Callegaro, A. (2017) Why Innovation and Technology Aren’t the same. -UNHCR Innovation.
King, N. (2014) What are intellectual virtues. The Table Bible University. Center for Christian thought
Westacott, E. (2020). What does it mean to live the good life? Retrieved from
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-good-life-4038226 on July 2020

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Assessing Learning

Activity 14
Name: _____________________________________________ Date: ________________________
Course/Year/Section: ___________________________ Score: _______________________

Directions: To help understand the lesson, watch this documentary entitled, “That Sugar Film”
(2015). Write a reaction paper about the documentary film on the next page of this module. You can
use an extra sheet if you need to. You can submit your reaction paper in a handwritten or printed
format. If you will opt to submit a printed paper, use Font: Cambria, Font Size: 12, Line Spacing: 1.5
and Paper size: 8.5 x 11” (short bond paper/ letter size).
Refer to the following guide questions:

1. What do you think is the purpose of the film?

2. Did you find the information offered up in the film to be shocking, or were you aware of the role sugar
plays in your life? Discuss.

3. Do you think you can survive a 30-day sugar-free diet? Why or why not?

4. How can you relate this film and sugar consumption to the concepts of the Good life that we have
discussed?

Reaction paper “That Sugar Film” (2015)

“That Sugar Film” is a 2015 Australian documentary film directed by and starring Damon Gameau. It is a
documentary about a man who subjected himself to an experiment to reveal the effects of consuming
high amounts of hidden sugar in our daily food intake. In the beginning it was mentioned that people
mostly considered fat, instead of sugar as the main threat to one’s health which was proven wrong.
Damon becomes a guinea pig for the unique experiment to document the effects of a high sugar diet on a
healthy body. Consuming only foods that are commonly perceived as healthy products by general public
such as low - fat yogurt juices and cereals but not soft drinks, chocolate, candies, ice cream that are said
to have high sugar. Damon documented his 60 day experiment under the supervision of a team of
doctors and a nutritionist. As the experiment progresses, Damon's health, energy levels, and daily mood
decline, while his weight and waistline increase. After two months on this high sugar diet, Damon finds
that his body and health has been significantly affected. Damon also noted that his body has adapted to
the new diet -- and its accompanying mood swings and headaches.

I think the purpose of the film is to make the consumers aware and be careful in choosing food products
being offered in the market and be attentive on the details of the product. As Damon said, not all
branded “healthy” are genuine. The film made us aware to look at the food we eat everyday as they can
be packed full of sugar and may be the reason why we’re not getting the effect we want from our food.
The information offered up in the film can be shocking for an engineering student like me because I was
not really aware of the danger on our body of taking excessive sugar. It is an eye-opener for me because
what Damon consumes as healthy food are most of the products my mother always picked at the
grocery market because she says it’s healthy. I’m aware that sugar is an energy booster of our body and
based on the film, too much of it can harm your body. My grandmother has a diabetes and she always
told us to avoid food rich in sugar. My mother from time to time chided me to work out to burn any
excess sugar calories.

I don’t think I can survive a 30-day sugar-free diet. I’m young and have a voracious diet which consists
mostly of sugar-laden products. My mother says that I’m a food addict. But after watching the film, it
made me realized that I should watch my diet and start eating healthy.

The concept of Good life is relevant in this film because the film is an eye opener for most of us who are
not aware of the harm those “healthy” foods in the market can do to our body. How can we achieve good
health and have a long life if we succumbed ourselves to sugar addiction. Sugar gives us much pleasure,
but to have a good life, we must have full control of our desires and passions with proper reason.

Watching this movie can be life-changing. It is educational, entertaining and has a lot of valuable
information that can be applied in our day to day life. Its messages about the effects of processed sugar
and food alternatives are convincing. Everyone who watches will gain a new understanding of their
own sugar habits and the products in the market. I hope that more people can see this film.

Grading Rubrics: