THE ULTIMATE END OF MAN

by: Esmaela Diann B. Mascardo

I. The Problem

What is the purpose of human life?

Where are we going?What is our destiny and

what is the way to attain it?

Vague and Imperfect Answers by Ancient Pagan Philosophers:

Anaxagoras

Man was created “ to contemplate the sun”.

Vague and Imperfect Answers by Ancient Pagan Philosophers:

Socrates

The purpose of man in this world is to learn how to die.

Vague and Imperfect Answers by Ancient Pagan Philosophers:

Epicurus

Sensual and intellectual pleasures were the real purpose of human life.

Vague and Imperfect Answers by Ancient Pagan Philosophers:

Zeno

The mission of man in this world is to be superior to sufferings.

Vague and Imperfect Answers by Ancient Pagan Philosophers:

Plato

The goal of man is the right cultivation of the human soul.

II. The End and the Good

An end is that towards which an action tends.

Different Ends:1.Proximate

- an immediate end on account of which an action is immediately performed

2. Intermediate- a subordinate end sought for the attainment of another end

Different Ends: 3. Ultimate

- is that on account of which other ends or means are sought

4. Absolute last end- is defined by St. Thomas as “ the end for the sake of which all other things are desired, and which is not itself desired for the sake of anything else”.

We further distinguish:1.The end of the action

- is the intrinsic purpose of the action

2. The end of the agent- is the good or purpose that an agent has in mind

3 Principles:First principle:

Every agent that performs an action acts for the sake of the end of purpose to be attained.

Second principle:Every agent acts for an ultimate end.

Third principle:Every agent has the power of moving for an end which is suitable or good for him.

Goods:1. Real Good

- is something truly good in itself

2. Apparent Good- is real evil but appears under the reality of good, as theft, revenge, suicide.Every moral evil is an apparent good.

Goods:3. Conditional Good

- is a good under a certain aspect

4. Simple Good- is something perfect according to its own nature

Goods:5. Imperfect Good

- is anything that satisfies either the inferior appetites of man or the superior powers.

6. Perfect Good- can satisfy human nature completely and perfectly to the highest degree and leaves nothing to be desired

III. The Last End and HappinessWhat is the reality under the

name “good” or “end” contained in all human desires and behind all human experience?

We call it happiness.

Pascal expressed:

All men have happiness as their object.

There is no exception.

However different they employ, they all aim at the same end.

St. Thomas explained:

“ The love of the good which man naturally desires as an end is a natural love; but the love derived from this, of a good loved for the sake of the end is an elective love”

IV. Imperfect Happinessa. A man may think he is happy if

he can avail himself of the goods and pleasures that money can buy.

True happiness cannot be bought with money.

IV. Imperfect Happiness

b. A man may think that happiness is his because he is physically strong.

But human happiness cannot consist in the health of a body that will disintegrate and return to the inorganic world of matter.

IV. Imperfect Happiness

c. Happiness is generally identified with bodily pleasures and the luxuries of life.

But pleasures cannot offer a real and perfect happiness for they carry a sense of limitation and discomfort.

IV. Imperfect Happiness

d. Glory, prestige, honor, and special glamour” cannot offer man a complete and lasting happiness, for these things are established upon the whims and caprices fickle public opinion that fluctuates like the weather vane.

To be well-known is not to be happy.

IV. Imperfect Happiness

e. Not even science and virtue are perfect happiness because of the difficulties and hardships they imply, although virtue is the best way to attain happiness.

St. Thomas expressed:

“ The present life is the subject to many unavoidable evils; to ignorance on the part of the intellect; and to many penalties on the part of the body”.

V. Perfect HappinessThey defined happiness as,St. Thomas“ The ultimate achievement of an

intellectual nature”

Boethius“ Happiness is a state made perfect by

the aggregation of all good things”.

“God is the Ultimate End of Man”

St Augustine summed up:

“ Following after God is the desire of happiness; to reach God is happiness itself….. For whoever possesses God is happy”.

VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s Philosophy of Happiness”

“Happiness is two-fold; the one is imperfect and it is possible in this life; the other is perfect, consisting in the vision of God”.

VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s Philosophy of Happiness”

“ For imperfect happiness such as can be had in this life, external goods are necessary, not as belonging to the essence of happiness, but by serving as instruments to happiness which consists in an operation of virtue”.

VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s Philosophy of Happiness”

“ The apprehension of the senses does not attain to the universal good, but to some particular good which is delightful”.

VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s Philosophy of Happiness”

“ Perfect happiness cannot consist essentially in the consideration of speculative sciences”.

VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s Philosophy of Happiness”

“ For perfect happiness, the intellect needs to reach the very essence of the First Cause”.

VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s Philosophy of Happiness”

“ The final perfection of the human intellect is by union with God, who is the first principle both of the creation of the soul and of its enlightenment”.

VI. St. Thomas Aquina’s Philosophy of Happiness”

“ Three things must occur in happiness: to wit, vision, which is perfect knowledge of the intelligible end: comprehension, which implies presence of the end: and delight or enjoyment, which implies repose of the lover in the object beloved”.

VII. The Natural and the Supernatural Purposes of Human LifeAristotle believed that,

“The natural purpose of man is to live in a way befilling his human nature”.

“ Man is made for virtue, for perfection”.

VIII. Utilitarianism and Pragmatism

According to Jeremy Bentham ( English Philosopher),

“Pleasure and pain are the only motives of human actions”.

“That is morally good which gives the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people”.

VIII. Utilitarianism and Pragmatism

According to John Stuart Mill,

“The creed which accepts as the foundation of Morals, Utility or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.

VIII. Utilitarianism and Pragmatism

By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain and the privation of pleasure”.