The purpose of Thomas Hurka’s book, “The Best Things in Life” is to show his perspective on how to attain the most pleasure from life. The three major theories of the good life and well-being according to Hurka are ethical hedonism, desire satisfaction, and objectivism. Ethical hedonism is the idea that all people have the right to do everything in their power to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure possible for them. It also states that every person’s pleasures should surpass the amount of pain that they experience. Desire satisfaction is trying to identify what makes one’s life the best. Finally, objectivism is the belief that certain things, especially moral truths, exist independently of human knowledge or perception of them. Hurka’s book falls under the category of desire satisfaction. One of Hurka’s main claims in his book is that the best things in life are pleasure, achievement, virtue, and friendship. Hurka demonstrates that these qualities are important to him because he devotes…show more content… With virtue, a person must do something and receive some pleasure from it. Otherwise, doing things that don’t satisfy you would lead people to a life of emptiness. Excellence, like virtue, seems to play a key role in benefitting people’s lives. With excellence, it fulfills people’s pleasures and leads them to a path of fulfillment most of the time. Meaning is to show that people’s lives have meaning and that they are being fulfilled by doing what people want to do. I disagree with Hurka’s idea of having the best kind of life. Yes, it is ideal to try to live “the perfect life.” But, it is not possible! People should make it their goal to try and live a life that they consider perfect, but there is always failure or disappointment in life. Part of life is learning how to overcome those failures and disappointments and to move on from
