How Should One Live: The Essential Elements of Good Living

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How Should One Live?
Introduction
The question of how one should live is a debate that may not have a unanimous answer. The discussion of how an individual should live has taken more than two millennia. However, philosophers still find themselves divided over the solution. Great thinkers and people in general as well have failed to come up with the general view of how people should live. John Stuart 1 acknowledges that the criterion to how people should live is a confusion surrounded by uncertainties and always disagreements arise concerning the basic principles that should guide life. Nonetheless, living well should generally involve a life in which one observes morals and ethics in social, political, economic and religious spheres. This paper will focus on analyzing concepts of how one should live by about analysis form the works of Taylor’s Aristotle, Kant and Mill.
How One Should Live
Whether a person lives the right way or the wrong depends on many factors. Such factors may be determined by the environment, and beliefs that people hold and how they view the world. It, therefore, means that a person may be considered to live well in one place while in other places, the lifestyle is deemed to be a wrong one. Right and wrong are matters that relate to observations just like in the case of falsehood and truth (Mill 2). It, therefore, means that definition of morality must be pegged on some guiding principles. The principles would always ignite consciousness and consistency of ethics in the minds of mankind. However, when there is a lack of clear recognition of such standards, the moral beliefs of mankind may always remain corrupted.
According to Kant 10, one should live a life that is full of moderation, self-control, and passion. He adds that sober reflection on realities of life is also vital in constituting the inner worth of a person. Without such principles, one can become completely evil. What a person accomplishes or efficacy for attaining a solution does not make an individual good, but his willingness to do what is right creates a good life in the person. Besides, a well-lived life should constitute a cultivated reason that can create happiness and enjoyment of life. It is also evident that if a person lives to admit committing offenses, they the person lives to reap the advantages of life (Kant 11).
Further, a man should live a l...