Defining the 'Good Life'
What is the good life? We all probably have some vague idea in our head about what good living is. It might be about high society and wealth, or it might be about simple pleasures. It might be about family time or friends or about moments when we are alone and just simply being ourselves. At its heart, a good life is a happy life, perhaps one which has a positive impact on others or makes a difference, however small.
The good life could be all or none of these things. It's a nebulous term.
And, because the ‘good life’ is nebulous I decided that this newsletter should focus on definitions. So far I’ve talked about the ‘good life’ in rather general ways but I’ve not tried to explain what I mean by the term (or what others mean by it).
When I begin work on any new subject one of the first things that I do is seek out a definition or two. For me, the dictionary is a starting point. It allows me to establish a widely held definition and then go from there. I have often found that the definitions vary and more importantly, do not necessarily convey how I would define a term.
So, when I decided that the theme of my Substack newsletter would be about seeking the good life, I had an idea what I meant by the term, but I wanted to see what the established definition might suggest. I was surprised by my findings. My definition of the good life can be found in the dictionary definitions, but it was not the only one nor the most prominent.
How do I define the Good Life?
In my previous long-form essay I talked about a British sitcom from the 1970s which followed a family who turned away from the world of work and instead practiced self-sufficiency. I grew up on The Good Life, and by the time I was a teenager, I knew every episode and would laugh before the punchline of the jokes. For that reason, I still associate a good life with self-sufficiency, even though my real conception of it has since evolved.
A good life is not necessarily self-sufficiency, but the philosophy behind the show, drew on a wider concept and that is intentionality and taking control of your own life. That, I feel, is key to a good life. Let me explain what I mean.
Intentionality is equally as nebulous as the ‘good life’ when setting a definition, so for now, let’s just describe it as being deliberate or purposeful in the things that we do. Taking control of our life is partly about intentionality, but it is also about actively doing things that are selfishly in our own interests, rather than what others might want or expect.
On those terms, and in my head, the good life is, then, a way of living with intention and purpose. Those intentions and purposes might change over time, but it is the concept of considering our actions first, rather than just intuitively doing something, or following the herd mentality, that matters. Of course, not everything in life needs to be intentional, but motivation, goals, and how you approach the world in terms of ethics and values, must matter.
There is more to my understanding of the good life than that. Key, also, is the concept of doing no harm. How can anyone live a good life if they are harming others to live that life? I can’t get my head around how that would work. Surely, a good life should be one which is caring and loving.
A good life should also be about happiness. No one is happy all of the time. To suggest otherwise would be ridiculous. But if we are truly living the good life, we should be happy most of the time and be able to look back at our lives and think, that wasn’t too bad.
Finally, I think that the good life should have an impact on others and makes human and non-human connections. These are two separate things but interconnected. Making an impact doesn’t mean world-changing, it can be small things, like making other people smile, helping others to understand their world in new ways, being helpful and friendly, and nurturing another being to help them to grow. The idea of making connections is about community (both human communities, and our connections with nature and the world around us). Living life alone, without connection or impact, seems wasteful and unhappy to me. Therefore, these are key to living a good life.
Thus, in summary, these are the key tenants that I feel make up a good life:
Live with intention and purpose
Do no harm
Be happy (at least most of the time)
Be impactful and make human and non-human connections
That’s my initial thoughts on the subject, anyway. You might have other ideas or other concepts. Indeed, when I investigated the definition of the ‘good life’ in dictionaries, I did find other ways of defining the subject. It is therefore obvious to me, that my thinking on the definition is the result of my life experiences, and not necessarily universal. Thus, we return to the acknowledgment that the good life is a nebulous term. So what, exactly, do the dictionaries say?
Definitions of the Good Life
The English Oxford Dictionary (online edition) describes the good life as:
1. A life of luxury, pleasure, or material comfort.
2. A way of living characterized by simplicity, self-sufficiency, living off the land, and the rejection of consumerism. Now chiefly British.
These two descriptions are not the usual variants of meanings that you get from dictionaries, but absolutely contradictory meanings. One is unlikely to be seeking a life of luxury and material comfort, whilst rejecting consumerism and living simply. A lifestyle that is self-sufficient and based on the land, is highly unlikely to result in luxury, although it might result in pleasure.
The English Oxford Dictionary identifies the second description as ‘chiefly British’, or, in other words, not a common meaning for ‘good life’ outside of the British world. The explanation that they give is that this meaning was popularised in the UK by a BBC television comedy called The Good Life (1975-8) which depicted ‘a suburban couple pursuing a self-sufficient lifestyle’. This is where my definition stems from (and it just so happens that I’m British!)
Dictionary.com provides a slightly different perspective on the meaning of the ‘good life’. Here it is described as:
1. A life abounding in material comforts and luxuries.
2. A life lived according to the moral and religious laws of one’s culture.
The second idea here, that a good life is about morals and living according to religious law or culture, draws out a suggestion that good living is not just about the individual but about their relationship with a wider community. A good life might comply with a set of moral rules decided by religion or culture. This differs again from the previous descriptions which were both individualistic.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary simply describes a good life as:
1. A life marked by a high standard of living
This meaning certainly fits with the first description given by both the Oxford English Dictionary and Dictionary.com, and makes it all the clearer that this first description is talking more about the lifestyle of the wealthy, celebrity, or those with inherited power. This is the kind of life distinguished by canapés at parties, posh dresses, sun tans, and yachts. When providing synonyms for this meaning, the Merriam-Webster dictionary states the ‘American dream’. This, then, is often aspirational. Many of us might aspire to this kind of lifestyle and might well consider it to be a life that is good. It is not just about those who are wealthy and elite.
The Cambridge Online Dictionary does not contain a definition of the good life, but it does provide a series of quotes from its Cambridge English Corpus. A few of these are worth referencing here, as an indication of how the term has been used:
“Certainly, many subjectivists think that the good life consists in something subtler than happiness: wellbeing or self-actualization, for example.”
“But that the conflicts arise at all is because of a loyalty shared by the above persons to an ideal ‘good’ life.”
“Under these circumstances they were delighted to have their government act to make the good life easier, safer, and cleaner.”
“What is under challenge, they argue, is the much vaunted notion that modern society girded by rational scientific pursuits could deliver the good life.”
“First, it might be thought that having a good life is not the same as having one’s interests well served.”
Happiness, well-being, government action, self-interest. These are all elements of a ‘good life’, which might be drawn out of these quotes. Happiness and well-being certainly feel like obvious attributes of a good life, if we consider a good life to be one of joy and self-fulfillment. Government action is more of a process or means to improve citizens' conditions so that they can get the most out of life. It is not necessarily a meaning of the good life itself. Self-interest, as depicted in the final quote, needs more investigation. What is the author here suggesting instead of one’s own interest as a path to a good life? Perhaps, they are suggesting some kind of public service or positive impact in a community. Such a suggestion would fit with the definition of living by a religious or cultural code.
From the dictionaries the definition of a good life appears to be one (or more) of the following:
A life in pursuit of luxury, pleasure, material comfort and marked by a high standard of living. Sometimes called the ‘American dream’
A way of living that is simple, which might involve living off the land or being self-sufficient. Often relates to a rejection of a consumerist lifestyle.
Living in accordance with moral, religious, or cultural codes or laws.
A life that provides a positive impact on a community or communities.
The fourth of these points is an extraction from vague suggestions in the dictionaries. Nowhere do they seemingly point to positive impact as a route to a good life, but it’s there if you look closely enough. Positive impact in a community or public service is certainly part of the good life that the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers would have highlighted, which is where I will look in the next essay.
A summary
So, some of the definitions in the dictionaries accord with my own definitions. In fact, the only one that is entirely different is the one about wealth and luxury. But there is more nuance here, more variation, and lots of different views about exactly what constitutes a good life.
The question becomes more complex when we embed the idea of a good life into the world that we actually live in. In my first essay, I highlighted a question - how can we live a good life in a world where our daily activities are harming the planet on which we live? Whilst the definitions in the dictionary did not specify my feeling that ‘do no harm’ is part of a good life, it is implicit within some of the terms that the dictionary highlight. I, therefore, feel that it is a fair question. Living a good life should be one which is beneficial, but this is all the harder when our society is inherently harmful. It is a quandary, and I would love to hear your views on this in the comments or any additional definitions that you might feel are relevant. Please do share and discuss!