How To Be HumanSo if neither religion nor philosophy will do it, science’s
promise – though a false one – is inevitably attractive. It appears
to offer a universal language, substantiated by evidence, thereby
providing an unequivocal basis for an ethical view of life. We
should all agree and live more happily ever after. Only it doesn’t.
The science of empathy, of happiness and of fairness are being
asked to do more moral work than they really can. Wider con-
siderations must ultimately decide what counts as good. Like
Socrates, we need to ask the moral questions when we are faced
with those moments when we grapple with the meaning of life.
Virtue ethics
Aristotle made a distinction that is useful, between merely exist-
ing and living well. It was based upon two uses of the word ‘life’.
(He was helped by the fact that in Greek there are two words for
life – zoe ̄ and bios). Aristotle noticed that there is animal-like
life (zoe ̄), that is life as in being healthy, fed and housed – what
could be called ‘zoological’ existing. And there is social-like life
(bios), that is, life as in not merely living as animals do but living
well as human beings aspire to do. Bios includes such aspects as
being happy, as well as, say, being fulfi lled, educated, inspired
and having purpose. The confusion implicit in the search for a
scientifi c ethics could, then, be put this way: the science upon
which it is based operates in the realm of zoe ̄, while a good life
is mostly about bios. The distinction is useful because science is
an excellent promoter of life in the zoological sense: technolo-
gies from science have clearly made countless humans healthier,
better fed and housed. But science falls short when it comes to
the moral matter of not merely existing but living well.
The tradition of ethics that Socrates picked up on when he
became disillusioned with science has much to contribute here.
It was also followed by Aristotle, and substantially developed by
Plato too. It’s known as virtue ethics – virtues being those skills,
habits and excellences that enable us to fl ourish, if we can nurture
them. They are those qualities that, got right, ensure you’re headed