You are doing well and something is missing
The checklist is complete and the question remains.
Courses
Start with three things you can do today
What makes a good life, according to philosophy
Explore what philosophers mean by a good life, using your own.
Compare what you think makes a life go well: enjoyment, relationships, worthwhile activity, character or something else. These considerations can overlap or conflict. A useful first step is to explain an ordinary choice under more than one view rather than assume there is one agreed formula.
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A starting goal
I want to explore what philosophers mean by a good life. Compare different views of happiness, virtue, and meaning using ordinary choices I can reflect on.
Change any word so it fits your situation. The course is built from what you type and a few setup questions.
Start today
Three things you can do before the course exists.
Useful on their own. The course is for when you want the whole skill, not just the first move.
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Use a choice with competing goods
Original scenario: you have a free Saturday and are choosing between a concert, helping a friend move and working on a long-term creative project. Assume no prior promise and no urgent need for this example. Each option could matter for a different reason.
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State the value behind a preference
The concert may offer enjoyment, helping may express friendship and the project may develop something you value. These are possible interpretations, not fixed categories: a concert can deepen a friendship too. Explain what makes your preferred option worthwhile rather than just name it.
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Test what would change your view
If you had promised to help, or were exhausted, would your choice change? Why? The check is whether your explanation handles relevant changes consistently. This exercise opens questions about living well; it does not assign a score to your life or settle a philosophical debate.
- Best for
- Philosophy
- Prerequisites
- None. Bring the situation you have.
- Course length
- 7 to 30 lessons
- Pace
- Yours. One lesson at a time, as often as you like.
- Format
- Read it, or play the audio
- Access
- Available on the App Store and Google Play, with an optional early testing list
Before the course is built
Setup asks about your situation first.
Lesson 1 opens on the moment you describe, and the examples use your role. For this request, expect questions like these.
- What prompts the question for you: a decision, a season of life, or long-standing curiosity?
- Do you lean toward happiness, achievement, duty or meaning as the measure of a life?
- Have you read any philosophy before?
Right for now
If any of this sounds familiar, start here.
You have never been asked what good means
Success was defined for you, and you would like to define it.
You want the thinkers, not the self-help
Aristotle over affirmations.
Course arc
Where the course goes, in order.
Cadence writes the lessons for you, so the exact path follows your answers. This is the ground a course built from this sentence covers.
01 / 06Happiness or flourishing
Pleasure and satisfaction versus living well, and why the distinction matters.
Aristotle
Virtue, activity and the life well lived, in modern terms.
Duty and the good
Kant and the idea that a good life is a moral one.
Meaning
Frankl, Camus and the question of what makes a life matter.
Modern accounts
Preference, wellbeing research and the capabilities approach.
Your own view
Working out what you actually believe, tested against choices you face.
What changes
What you will be able to do, and what you will stop believing.
You will be able to
Compare the main views
Explain hedonist, eudaimonic, duty-based and meaning-centered accounts in plain words.
Test them against your life
Use ordinary choices to see which view you actually hold.
Reflect with more precision
Ask better questions about how you are living.
Ideas this course corrects
Everyone means the same thing by happiness
People and theories can use the term for different experiences or evaluations. Clarify the meaning before comparing claims.
A good life reduces to one enjoyable afternoon
Ask how a choice relates to a life over time, relationships, circumstances and values.
Course questions
What to know before you start.
What makes a good life, according to philosophy: what can I do today?
Use a choice with competing goods. Original scenario: you have a free Saturday and are choosing between a concert, helping a friend move and working on a long-term creative project. Assume no prior promise and no urgent need for this example. Each option could matter for a different reason. State the value behind a preference. The concert may offer enjoyment, helping may express friendship and the project may develop something you value. These are possible interpretations, not fixed categories: a concert can deepen a friendship too. Explain what makes your preferred option worthwhile rather than just name it. Test what would change your view. If you had promised to help, or were exhausted, would your choice change? Why? The check is whether your explanation handles relevant changes consistently. This exercise opens questions about living well; it does not assign a score to your life or settle a philosophical debate.
Is this a fixed course?
No. Cadence builds the course when you type the sentence and answer a few setup questions, so the lessons follow your situation. This page describes what a course built from this request covers. You see the whole path before Lesson 1.
Who is this course for?
Compare what you think makes a life go well: enjoyment, relationships, worthwhile activity, character or something else. These considerations can overlap or conflict. A useful first step is to explain an ordinary choice under more than one view rather than assume there is one agreed formula. It sits under Philosophy in the Ideas & discovery part of the library.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Setup asks what you already know and where you want to use it, and the course starts from there. Bring a real situation if you have one; the examples are built around it.
How long does it take?
Most courses run 7 to 30 lessons. The course length is sized to what you asked for. You set the pace: one lesson at a time, as often as you like. Lessons can be read or played as audio.
Does this course award a certificate or degree?
No. Cadence is for practical self-learning and does not award accredited degrees or professional certification.
Start today
Type it, answer a few questions, open Lesson 1.
A starting goal
I want to explore what philosophers mean by a good life. Compare different views of happiness, virtue, and meaning using ordinary choices I can reflect on.
Want new features first?