The questions we avoid often shape the lives we end up living.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it actually means to live well. Not in the surface-level “hustle and be happy” way our culture pushes, but something deeper. Sitting down with Grant Potts for another round of Phil Phails at Philosophy, we tackled the book Philosophy’s Big Questions and its chapter on happiness, human flourishing, and the good human life. The conversation moved between Western thinkers like Aristotle, Kant, and Mill, and Buddhist perspectives on compassion, meditation, and liberation. It felt less like an academic debate and more like two guys trying to figure out how to show up better in life.
Approaching the Big Question
The chapter doesn’t hand you easy answers. Instead, it asks: How should we live? What does human flourishing really look like? Is it about feeling happy in the moment, or something more enduring?
Grant pointed out that both traditions wrestle with this, but they come at it from different angles. Western philosophy often focuses on reason, virtue, duty, or utility. Buddhism ties it to reducing suffering through awareness, compassion, and contemplative practice.
Western Perspectives on the Good Life
On the Western side, we looked at three major approaches:
Aristotle emphasized virtue and eudaimonia — often translated as “happiness,” but closer to flourishing through living excellently. It’s not just feeling good; it’s becoming the kind of person who acts with character.
Kant brought in duty and moral law — doing the right thing because it’s right, grounded in reason and respect for persons.
Mill and utilitarianism focused on maximizing well-being and minimizing harm for the greatest number.
These frameworks give structure, but they can feel abstract when you’re in the middle of real life.
Buddhist Approaches to Flourishing
The Buddhist lens felt refreshing in its practicality. Rather than abstract rules, it points toward direct experience: study, contemplate, meditate. The goal isn’t just personal happiness but alleviating suffering for all beings.
We talked about the shift from the Arhat ideal (individual liberation) to the Bodhisattva path — vowing to help others awaken. Concepts like the six perfections (generosity, morality, patience, effort, concentration, wisdom) offer concrete ways to cultivate a good life.
Meditation emerges as essential — not as self-help, but as a way to see clearly, loosen the grip of ego, and respond with compassion.
Personal Reflection
Reading this chapter and talking with Grant made me realize how much I’ve chased the wrong kind of “good life.” I’ve looked for formulas, productivity hacks, and external validation. What stayed with me is the Buddhist emphasis on direct awareness and the Western call to reasoned virtue. Both challenge the passive consumption of happiness that dominates modern culture.
Grant’s humility as a teacher — always willing to learn from students and life — reminded me that philosophy isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about asking better questions and staying open. I left the conversation wanting to bring more contemplation and compassion into my daily mess.
Practical Takeaways
- Clarify what “good” means for you: Is it momentary pleasure, long-term flourishing, or reducing suffering for yourself and others?
- Cultivate virtues through practice: Small, consistent actions (generosity, patience, mindfulness) build character more than grand intentions.
- Make space for contemplation: Study ideas, reflect on them in daily life, and sit with them in quiet awareness.
- Balance reason and direct experience: Use your mind to evaluate, but don’t ignore what you learn through meditation or presence.
- Expand love beyond romance: Practice compassion and duty in family, community, and toward all beings.
- Remember impermanence: A good life embraces change rather than clinging to fixed ideas of happiness.
Conclusion
There’s no universal checklist for the good life. Aristotle, Kant, Mill, and the Buddha all point toward living with intention, but the real work happens in the messy, ordinary moments. Maybe the best we can do is keep asking the question honestly, with curiosity and compassion — for ourselves and everyone around us.
About Grant Potts
Grant Potts is a distinguished faculty member at Austin Community College, specializing in Philosophy, Religion, and Humanities. Trained primarily as a scholar of religion, Grant is also a dedicated philosopher and curriculum developer, committed to promoting liberal education through the Great Question Foundation to benefit community college students of all disciplines. Outside the academic sphere, he is a passionate gardener, an enthusiastic hiker and cyclist, and an ardent tabletop roleplaying game enthusiast, delighting in adventures with friends and family in classics like Dungeons and Dragons as well as newer games like Coriolis and Forbidden Lands.
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