Augustine of Hippo would say: O God, Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.

Preparing for your future To achieve vocational goals To enhance skills To make a GOOD living T o Serve God and make a GOOD life

Pursue happiness = good life NOT just getting your desires met NOT just passing subjective pleasures

HAPPINESS = life of Virtue - Ethics Good – desiring the ideal, noble, best goals Right – the opposite of wrong, defined by a law Ought – personal obligation, duty, responsibility

Christian Liberal Arts Education Gets first things, FIRST All truth is God’s truth To study seriously is an act of faith Study is an act of worship

Christian Liberal Arts Education Sees you as a worthy creation of God You have a call to do special things You are uniquely endowed with talents ALL PURPOSES ARE NOT =

Teleology The belief that the events of life are pulled forward by some specific purpose toward some definite end

Telos God is the divine, purposive, maker of all that exists Created human beings with purpose and gifted them in such a way as to fulfill that purpose “O God, Thou hast made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee” St. Augustine The search for meaning is the primary motivation of life. People need something for which to live. Victor Frankl

Eight candidates for the Summum Bonum Thomas Aquinas

Wealth Most popular answer The desire for money is unlimited I can only enjoy a finite amount of material goods – cars – houses Can’t be can’t buy me love, or peace, or health Money is only a means and not an end so it can not be the “last end,” or summum bonum

Honor Well-deserved appreciation – recognition = happiness Especially for virtue, like courage, hard work, or wisdom Honor is external – depends on others – Can be fickle, or fake, or manipulative Happiness - internal - can’t depend on external factors So honor cannot be the ultimate goal of life

Glory or Fame In a modern media society fame seems to be the road to happiness Aquinas said fame is fleeting, false, and mostly superficial Always asks “What have you done for me lately?” So, fame is a foolish ultimate purpose Famous Rap Artist

Power Happiness consists of being powerful But, like money, power is only a means to another end – can’t be last end I could be technologically powerful, or economically powerful, and have total freedom No guarantee power = happiness

Health Health is better because it is an internal thing Something that you have some control over – you can exercise and eat right But, health of the body not as important as the health of the soul Can’t be the ultimate purpose of life – we all still die

Pleasure Pleasure seems to be a good answer Pleasure/happiness are sought for their own sake, as ends and not means - that’s good Whenever we are happy, we are pleased, pleasure is a consequence of happiness And we are happy because we possess some good But, good constitutes ultimate happiness? Pleasure and happiness aren’t the same – we often regret pleasures – but never happiness – If there is such a thing as harmful pleasures – then pleasure cannot be the same as our true good

Virtue Happiness is internal, not external, so happiness must consist in the good of the soul. The good of the soul is wisdom (the good of the mind) and virtue (the good of the will) The soul itself cannot be its own last end – We grow and mature, if successful, and we fail, if unsuccessful – Virtue is like an arrow shot to a target. What is its aim? – The good or happiness of the soul must have an aim other than itself

GOD No one in this world is perfectly happy Either there is something more than this world, Or there is no such thing as perfect happiness - anywhere But, we have a natural desire for perfect happiness If nature makes nothing in vain, then this desire for happiness must correspond to something that actually exists – something attainable Since nothing in this world fills that void, there must be something more The goods attainable in this world are all limited, but our desire is unlimited There must be an unlimited good which alone can satisfy all our desires Aquinas’ argues that good is nothing less than God