Essentials for the Good Life

Greetings Philosophers All,

The latest Thinking Out Loud podcast has been released on iTunes. The session was recorded at our new venue, the Charlottesville Public Library, on Wednesday, July 2nd. The topic was:

"What are the essentials for a good life?"

Participating were veteran citizen philosophers, David Rood, Deborah Martin, George Garrett, John Tytus, Stephen Whiteman, and Steven Stokes. Also joining us for the first time were newcomers, Rachel Backburn and Susan Patrick. Welcome to the forum, Rachel and Susan, and thank you for sharing your philosophical insights. We had a most enlightening discussion. Here are some of the questions we wrestled with:

Are there any universal prerequisites to living the good life? Is the question totally subjective, or are there any objective measures? Is good health an essential element? Do physical impairments preclude living a good life? Do pain and suffering? How about impaired mental health? Must one have passions to live the good life? From whose perspective is one's life to be judged as good? Are pleasures, contentment, and happiness reliable indicators of a good life? When a sexual predator is fulfilling his passion, is he living the good life? Might passion be necessary, but not sufficient to a good life? How do we distinguish the essential prerequisites FOR a good life from the hallmarks OF a good life? Is peace of mind essential? Is it a cause or an effect? Can one's life be judged in progress, or must it be judged as a whole only after it has been completed, as one might judge a book or movie? What does it mean to be contributing to the goodness of the world? Are externally applied criteria any more objective than internal judgements? Can one have a good life by just appreciating the present moment? Is a spiritual framework necessary for a good life? Are the essentials for a good life the same throughout ones life? Is there a preferred or natural order to the unfolding of one's life? What does it take to stay on one's course, given that everyone's path may be different? What role does gratitude play in living the good life? Are not most of us living far better lives than even the kings and queens of previous centuries?

To subscribe to the podcast with your podcast software (such as iTunes or iPodder) copy and past the following link into your software:

www.citizenphilosopher.com/rss/tol_podcasts.xml

If you have iTunes, you can find us listed in the Apple Music Store directory under Podcasts/Society & Culture/Philosophy, or just do a search in iTunes on Thinking Out Loud People. The direct iTunes link is:

phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=214321935

If you don't have iTunes or other podcast software and just want to download the mp3 file directly, use this link:

Listen to the broadcast (mp3)

You are invited to add your thoughts by clicking on the "comments" link at the lower right hand corner of this post.

The next Thinking Out Loud will be Wednesday, August 6th, at 7:00 pm. We will select a topic at the beginning of the next session, as usual.

Cheers,

Steve

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Premed Science Tutor,
Citizen Philosopher,
Life Coach
www.citizenphilosopher.com
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