ON THE COMPULSORY HIERARCHY OF FUNDAMENTAL VALUES FOR

HUMAN FLOURISHING
Presented at APPON conference, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nov 1- 4, 2023

By
Stephen A. Oguji, PhD
Department of Philosophy
Imo state university Owerri
ogujisteve@yahoo.com, 08035691677

Abstract
The notion of human flourishing, in this paper is about optimal personal sense of
happiness, fulfillment, harmony, development an individual can attain as a fulfillment of
his own personality both in private and in the public realm. This paper articulates what it
considers the first four fundamental values for human flourishing in the order which it
argues an individual must appropriate them in order to attain and live meaningfully and
experience vitality consistent with his or her humanity, fulfilling or realizing one’s
daemon or true nature. The objective of the paper is to address the fundamental place of
proper value order and correct the contemporary misappropriation of values all of
which lead to disharmony, unhappiness and confused existence that most contemporary
persons experience. The paper adopts expository and critical methods of the most
important values in the hierarchical order of internal or biological value, social value
and material value. The thesis of the paper is that until an individual respects and orders
these first four fundamental values, in the order it is presented here, the individual cannot
live a fulfilling life.

General Introduction

Most moral and value philosophers believe that there is at least one thing, which everybody

without exception wants and is relentlessly looking for and that is happiness, 1 (Joseph

Omoregbe, Ethics: A Systematic and Historical Study, Lagos: Joja Pub, 2000, p. 26)

sometimes referred to as internal harmony, or a flourishing life or the good life: a healthy,

contented, peaceful, pleasurable, stress-reduced and ultimately a happy and long life. Without

fear of hasty generalization, there is nobody who does not want such a life for it is part of

human nature to seek happiness such that when it is not met, there is deep sense of loss.

Everyone wants the best life, or what the ancient philosophers would call eaudamonia, which
according to The Definitions, is “the good composed of all goods; an ability which suffices

for living well; perfection in respect of virtue; resources sufficient for a living creature. 25”

Socrates speaking through Plato thought that all human beings wanted eudaimonia more than

anything else. John Finnis talks of what he calls basic good in these words:

Basic goods are the fundamental aspects of human flourishing and the first principles of
one’s own practical reasoning. The basic forms of good are things to be pursued because
they are intrinsically good. This understanding propels one to identify and cultivate
behaviours that enable one to always make informed decision over available choice. This
is not a process of inferring from fact to a value; for no value can be deduced or
otherwise inferred from a fact or set of facts. The basic goods are goods sought for their
own sake. These goods are “properly called ‘ends’ and are not those goods which are
instrumental and thus considered means.9

At the provocative background of this study is the contemporary man’s attitude towards the

material, wealth acquisition or money as the way to reach this good life. The craze with

which modern man chases wealth, money, professional success at the expense of every other

value is worrisome. To make money, families and important relationships are relegated to the

background. To make money, health is given little or no attention. To achieve career success,

all or most other values are rarely given attention. Consider for instance what has been

observed among some athletes or sportsmen in general who sometimes take or inject

themselves of very dangerous enhancement drugs just to perform and win the highest trophy

‘gold’ of the competition, at the expense of their own health. Some of them soon develop

some consequential complications that either paralyze them for the rest of their lives or

ultimately end their lives. Many academicians for example also in the pursuit of their

professorship, end up with stress induced high blood pressure. Many business men too, spend

all their time, planning and executing their businesses most times at the expense of relaxation,

rest, taking care of their health and connecting with their families. They can almost do

anything, at the expense of their social life, spiritual harmony, and physical health. Most
parents these days no longer have time for the task of parenting because they are busy

making money.

The point is that the contemporary man tends to make quest for wealth or material success the

first and the most fundamental value. The modern man somehow identifies happiness with

money and believe that the more money a person acquires the happier he becomes. He

therefore does everything possible including fraudulent and evil means to acquire more and

more money, throwing morality, social connection, spiritual health and every other value to

the winds. But the fact which is intended to be corrected here is that that money is not the

most important value. This is evident in the fact that although modern is rich yet he loses grip

of life, of meaning, grows desolate as night closes in on.

At the core of modern societies’ existential sickness is this misappropriation of values, where

material success have displaced more fundamental values and leaves an emptiness it cannot

fill. People who care less about their health, about education, about their spiritual life

eventually get frustrated and lose the vibe for life. In highly industrialized societies where

work, wealth creation and materialism have been prioritized over ultimate meaning, the result

is meaninglessness in the midst of riches. Among those who privilege spiritual life over

knowledge end up in poverty. Those who give more attention to relationship, end up poor

and forgotten. That is why sometimes the so called richest, those who seem to have made it

materially speaking, the most successful in one career or the other do not seem to have the

best of lives. They are not measurably the happiest persons. We are all witnesses to the cases

of suicide by the apparently successful persons. We have had cases of millionaires

committing suicide as a result of frustration and unhappiness showing that the richest men are

not the happiest men. There are many people who thought that money would automatically
bring them happiness but instead they have become increasingly unhappy as they became

richer.

Frederick Nietzsche, inspired by Schopenhauer, was among the first to see this hopelessness

that is collapsing on humanity. Nietzsche observed that humanity is being engulfed by the

darkness of nihilism - the belief that there are no enduring values on which to build our lives.

As early as the 19th century, even before it became as evident as it is today, Nietzsche already

saw that the values and truths which humanity lived by were on the wane. He saw humanity’s

dearest dreams and notions – the notions of God, truth, reality, objective values and human

progress - going down the drain. In this kind of hopelessness, he held that what is needed is

the ability to affirm life with open eyes and without the cosmic comforts of our philosophical

and theological traditions.

The problem of this paper and the simple question is: how do we organize our values in

order to achieve the good life? Put in other words, how does one actualize his potentials to

the fullest to realize one’s daimon or true nature. What is it that one must give most priority

in the order of values in order to get grounded, stable, and indeed happy? Between money or

wealth, friendship, family, health and assets which should receive the highest attention?

The objective of this study is to argue for the way we must order our first four existentially

fundamental values in order to live a happy and flourishing life. It is to show how we must

define our priority in life, our scale of choice, our existential credo in our interaction with

others, friends and family, our business and professional and daily engagements. This is

because as observed above, our experience is that a man can be extremely rich and yet be

very unhappy.
It becomes significant to determine the order among the first four existentially – biological

value, material value, social value, and spiritual value which should invoke prior

commitment, more resources, more attention and first attention before the others.

Existentially, the objective is to show that between material value (in terms of money

making, career success) spiritual value (in terms of our spiritual life, having a reason for

existence), social value (in terms of maintaining network of family and friends) biological

value (in terms of efforts to maintain our health and of course life) should receive the highest

allocation of our time and resources each time and at which order for us to live the good life.

A study like this is important in today’s world, where there is evidently wrong reordering of

values that produce many materially successful persons who are existentially unhappy and

experience deep meaninglessness. This study has significant implications to the modern man

whose most choices: of careers, of friends or general relationship to keep, or even God or the

gods to worship - today are simply evaluated from the materialistic perspective. An

anonymous author puts it like this “we compromise our integrity to demanding bosses in the

hope of getting a promotion or large bonus. We pick college majors based on their monetary

value rather than our interest because we believe the extra money will make us happy.”

To get going however in the essay, it is important to examine and put in perspective

important terms as used in this essay such as fundamental values and human flourishing.

Notes on Basic Terms: Fundamental Values and Human Flourishing

The word value comes from the Latin word ‘valere’ which means to be of worth, to be

strong. The dictionaries see value as something (as a principle of quality) intrinsically

valuable, useful or important, relative worth, degree of excellence., has a price, something

precious, dear and worthwhile; hence something one is ready to suffer and sacrifice for, if
necessary one is ready is to die for it. (See S.Ignacimuthu, SJ. Values for Life, Bombay: St

Paul’s Society, 1994,p. 10)

Value is closely related with beliefs about what is right and wrong especially what is

important in life to keep the human society going. Values are like maps that guide our

interaction with others, friends and family, in our business and professional engagements.

Values reflect in ones personal attitudes and judgments, ones decisions and choices, ones

behavior and relationships, one’s dreams and vision, ones thoughts, feelings and actions.

Values guide us to the right things, they also help us to be morally sound.

By fundamental values, is meant those values that give initial meaning and strength to other

values as they occupy a central place in one’s life. Fundamental values are guiding or first

principles or standards of choice which are regarded as desirable and important, held in high

esteem by a particular person or society and the failure to hold them will result in or affect

ones life entirely and result in blame, criticism or condemnation. In this sense we consider

four values as squarely fundamental: life/health maintenance, material success, spiritual

health and social connectivity. Poor order of these values manifest as confusion, lack of

order or direction, making room for anything goes, where a person just lives his life as the

moment and the day dictate. Without values one would be floating like a piece of driftwood

in the swirling waters of a river exciting it may appear first.

The notion of human flourishing on the other hand focuses on the optimal personal

development an individual can attain in order to fulfill one’s own personality. 1 It implies the

development and fulfillment of one’s own personality, both in private and in the public realm,

which lies on the inherent development toward a desired end. The concept of human
flourishing refers to optimal psychological functioning and experience encompassing wide

range of human activities that promotes well-being of the people not necessarily the absence

of illness (physical and mentality) but to live meaningfully and vitality consistent with their

humanity. For Finnis, human flourishing embodies the protection of life itself, knowledge,

excellence in work and play, friendship and self-expression. 2 Human flourishing does not

only focus on positive freedom, but sees negative freedom and autonomy as preconditions for

personal development. Human flourishing may differ from person to person. Scholars over

the years have laboured tirelessly to ascertain the principles underlying human flourishing. 3

Other terms that are synonymous with human flourishing include: happy life, peace of mind,

sense of fulfillment

Some Relevant Literature on Hierarchy of Values for Human Flourishing

Scholars over the years have laboured tirelessly to ascertain the principles underlying human

flourishing. The question has been how an individual can organize his values in order to

achieve the best in life. The question of human flourishing is as old as the ethical question:

what is the best way to live ones life in order to achieve happiness. In his Nicomachean

Ethics, Aristotle says that everyone agrees that eudaimonia is the highest good for human

beings, but that there is substantial disagreement on what sort of life counts as doing and

living well;27 in his theory of eudemonia the well-being of human flourishing consists of

more than just happiness. It lies instead in the actualization of human potentials 6, conveying

the belief that well-being consists of fulfilling or realizing one’s daimon or true nature.

According to Aristotle, eudaimonia actually requires activity, action, so that it is not

sufficient for a person to possess a squandered ability or disposition. Eudaimonia requires not

only good character but rational activity. Aristotle clearly maintains that to live in accordance

with reason means achieving excellence. This was corroborated by Epicurus who argues that

the eudaimonia life is the life of pleasure coincides with the life of virtue. So the ancient
ethical theorists tend to agree that virtue is closely bound up with human flourishing. The

stoic ethics has the position that Happiness can only be found by accepting whatever

happens.

In the modern times, the question of what constitutes human flourishing elicits an

extraordinary variety of responses,3 which suggests that there are not merely differences of

opinion at work, but also different understanding of the question itself. Pogge posits that

human persons are flourishing if their lives are good, or worthwhile, in the broadest sense. 4

He further asserts that the concept of human flourishing, marks the most comprehensive, “all

– in” assessment of the quality of human lives. Pogge argued that human flourishing is

boarder than many other concepts that describe flourishing which include pleasure, well-

being, welfare, affluence, and virtue, as well as those denoting various excellences and

accomplishments.

John Finnis enumerated the basic goods as follows: (1) Life (2) Knowledge (3) Play, (4)

Aesthetic Experience, (5) Sociability (friendship), (6) Practical reasonableness and (7)

Religion. Again, these basic goods are he categorized these basic goods into two groups:

Substantive and reflexive goods. The former comprises life, knowledge and play whereas the

latter consists of aesthetic experience, sociability, practical reasonableness, and religion.

Substantive goods provide reasons for making choices that stand by themselves. Reflexive

goods must be defined in terms of human choice.”11

In Money and Happiness Essay, it is noted that “the connection we make between money

and happiness is strange because they are two very different concepts. Money is tangible, you

can quantify it and know exactly how much of it you have at any given time. Happiness on

the hand is subjective, elusive, has different meanings for different people…. Counting
happiness is much more difficult than counting dollar bills. The paper acknowledges that

money in large quantity allows for the freedom to do and have anything you want and give

you sense of satisfaction, and since happiness is simplest terms can be taught of as life

satisfaction and enjoyment, then having money has close relationship with being happy.

Dr. Roger Henderson, a mental-health researcher in the United Kingdom, in Money Sickness

Syndrome argued that many ill health conditions that account for premature deaths today are

traceable to a recent term in mental health called “money sickness syndrome.” which

reportedly, afflicts a large percentage of the world’s population. Money sickness syndrome,

according to Dr. Roger Henderson, is used to designate the physical and psychological

symptoms experienced by people who are stressed with money worries. The symptoms

include shortness of breath, headaches, nausea, skin rashes, and lack of appetite, unjustified

anger, nervousness, and negative thinking. When an individual falls victim of money sickness

syndrome, he puts his life on a dangerous precipice from which he can fall any time and

break into pieces.

Scores of sociological studies have equally proved that money does not guarantee happiness.

Money woes are common in times of abundance. During recent years of financial prosperity,

many people have been plagued by money worries. The Witness, a South African newspaper,

reported that “a creeping social disease of over-consumption, commercialism and rampant

materialism” was spreading in Africa. The newspaper listed some of the symptoms of this

disease including “stress, debt, waste, overwork, feelings of deprivation, envy and

depression.” Money was blamed for the on going deterioration of the quality of human life in

Africa. Prior to the recent financial crunch, India underwent a period of outstanding

economic growth. India Today International reported that 2007 was a year when the country
“fast forwarded to a new level of conspicuous consumption.” Yet, at the time, officials there

were afraid that India’s prosperity would result in increased unrest and even violence.

On the other hand, in good and bad times, many people – both rich and poor – are relatively

free of anxieties about money and material possessions. Why the difference one may ask: In a

report entitled The Meaning of Money, the researchers observed that when a life is controlled

by motivation that comes from money, there is usually a high tendency to stress and

neuroticism. “Once above the poverty line” noted a thoughtful observer, “increases in income

have surprisingly little relation to personal happiness.” Early in the last century, a reporter

had that lesson impressed upon him when interviewing Andrew Carnegie, a pioneer of the

steel industry, who was then one of the richest men in the world. “I am not to be envied,”

Carnegie told him. “How can my wealth help me? I am sixty years old, and I cannot digest

my food. I would give all my millions if I could have youth and health.” The reporter then

“Mr. Carnegie suddenly turned, and in hushed voice and with bitterness and depth of feeling

quite indescribable, said “if I could make Faust’s bargain I would. I would gladly sell

anything to have my life over again.” Another multi millionaire, oil magnate J. Paul Getty,

later said in agreement: “Money does not necessarily have any connection with happiness and

may be with unhappiness. Those who care more about people and devote their life to service

of mankind than they do about money are happier. Those who after adequately satisfying

their basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, schooling for the children and for family upkeep,

find good reason to share. what else does a person need money for. No wonder the Paul in his

fatherly advice to his son Timothy, wrote “having sustenance and covering, we shall be

content with these things. (1Tim 6:8).

According to a social media post by OAK, “The notion of “flourishing” is important in

Philosophy and Psychology. Definitions vary, but it always means something like “being well
off”. I have a version of it which is central to my thought. Roughly speaking, I say that

people flourish when they successfully use their talents to achieve things in the world that are

important to them. The following is an attempt to give a more precise and ‘philosophical’

account of flourishing, and to argue that how well an organism is flourishing is an objective

fact about it.” Thus, a human being has a way of flourishing, a way that objectively depends

on the physical structure of the human being. It is not something that is arbitrarily imposed on

the human being by society, or a god, or me, or even the human being itself; it is simply part

of the nature of the human being.

Since different human beings are physically different, they need different things in order to

flourish; in fact, a single human needs different things at different times and in different

contexts. Such needs are intrinsic properties of the particular human being, and cannot be

imposed in it by fiat.

There is also the position that to live according to that truth of self-abasement in the service

of others is the greatest source of happiness and peaceful internal disposition. And since “a

cheerful heart is a good medicine” as the scriptures said, long life is one of the offspring’s of

a truly happy life. This is illustrated by the following story told about Napoleon Bonaparte,

the French emperor, who was once the terror of Europe. His ambition was to extend his

empire to the farthest limits of Europe. As a soldier, he made gigantic strides and left

indelible marks in the field of war. In one of his very pompous utterances, he is believed to

have said that if he were given a place to stand, he would shake the whole world. Thank God,

he had no place other the world to stand. And so, the world continues to exist after him.

Waterloo became not only a victory over Napoleon but also a victory over all forms of

exaggerated pride. It is a good warning that greatness in military career is just as swift as the

movement of the army in the battle field. By the end of his military career, Napoleon
discovered that only an empire built on love can last. He said “Alexander, Caesar,

Charlemagne and have built great empires. But upon what did they depend? They depended

on force. But centuries ago Jesus started an empire that was built on love, and even to this

day millions will die for him”. Jesus Christ lived the truth. Napoleon confined it into very

beautiful words but did not live it.4

For the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, widely caricatured as a philosopher of

doom in his views and admonition on how to maintain equanimity and control our false

expectations or even too much expectations from life, if you believe happiness to be the

norm, or live in expectation of its arrival, you are, paradoxically, only going to end up more

unhappy. Schopenhauer wasn’t trying to make us feel depressed by his ostensibly gloomy

writings; rather, he was trying to liberate us from false expectations. In his two-volume most

influential work, The World as Will and Representation (1819, 1844) he wrote ‘There is only

one inborn error, and that is the notion that we exist in order to be happy… So long as we

persist in this inborn error… the world seems to us full of contradictions.’ Schopemhaurer

also counselled today’s youth, who have been taught to focus on their feelings. He wrote in

his final work, Parerga and Paralipomena (1851): ‘What disturbs and renders unhappy… the

age of youth… is the hunt for happiness on the firm assumption that it must be met with in

life. From this arises the constantly deluded hope and so also dissatisfaction. Deceptive

images of a vague happiness of our dreams hover before us in capriciously selected shapes

and we search in vain for their original.’ The ultimate lesson to be drawn from Schopenhauer

is that the key to happiness is not to seek it. One of Schopenhauer’s intellectual disciple

Friedrich Nietzsche, put it: ‘The right way of life does not want happiness, turns away from

happiness.’ Nietzsche concluded that life was primarily about struggle. To embrace strife and

woe: this is the emancipatory war that lets us finally become content and complete.
The Proposed Hierarchy of Fundamental Values

What follows is the proposed order of values for a flourishing life in the order of

1.Biological Life/ value, 2. Spiritual Life/ value 3 Social value, 4. Material value

Value for Life

Of all values, the first and most fundamental is the possession of life: the phenomenon that

confers on us the status of living things. The Webster’s Twentieth Century Dictionary defines

life as: “that property of plant and animals which makes it possible for them to take in

food, get energy from it, grow, adapt themselves to their surrounding and reproduce their

kind. Also, according to The New Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, life is “the

state of an organism characterized by certain processes or abilities that include metabolism,

growth, reproduction and response. It further defines life as the period of time from birth to

the present.” The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary sees life as ‘the ability to breathe,

grow, reproduce, etc which people, animals, and plants have before they die and which

objects do not have’. For Mary Clark in Contemporary Biology: Concepts and Implication

life is “the organization of organic molecules into self-sustaining entities which are capable

of growth and self-duplication.” Simply put life is the quality that distinguishes a living

animal or plants from inorganic matter or a dead organism” and which makes existence and

all the activities there in: That is why J. Donceel says that life is “that which makes a being

naturally capable of self-perfective immanent activity.”

It is based on the self-perfective immanent activity nature of life that it is seen as the most

fundamental value above every other value, without which other values may not find locus

operandi. According to Lawrence Ojong, life is placed supremely above all other and social

values because life avails energy necessary to carry out all other functions. The biomedical
sciences, agricultural sciences, even technology has one purpose: bettering, sustaining and

even elongating life.”What this means is that nothing else should be pursued at the expense of

life, or jeopardizing health. No wonder then the first law that man responds to in all he does is

the law of self preservation. John Finnis explains the primacy of life over other values this

way:

Life is the first basic value. It corresponds to the drive for self-preservation. Life
signifies every aspect of vitality which puts a human being in good shape for self-
determination. Hence, life here incorporates bodily and psychological health, and
freedom from the pain caused by injury.12
What this primary position of life as the physical chief value means is that in the scale of

preference largest chunk of resources, finance, time, should be given to the maintenance of

health and ultimately preservation of life. Between for instance, spending money on our

health and paying tithe in the church, the former should be done before the latter. Between

taking necessary rest or exercise which the body needs to improve health, and meeting up

with a friend’s party, the former should be considered first. The largest chunk of resources

should used be to ensure beneficial or nutritious food security and required drug that

preserves. All other needs should be deferred for that which maintains life McFarlard J.L.

wisely observed that “the most important investment you can make is the investment in your

health.

It is therefore a case of inversion of values to channel ones resources to any other value at the

expense of one’s health or life. For example, it is an inversion of value to pursue one’s career

in terms of investing all time and attention at the detriment of one’s health or treasure fat

bank account at the neglect of one’s health. To pursue any other value at the expense of

health will land one into A.J. Rob Materi’s observation that ‘so many people spend their

health gaining wealth and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.

Spiritual Value
The next in our considered hierarchy of fundamental values, after biological value is spiritual

value. The concept of spiritual value here includes inner life, spiritual life, existential purpose

and credo, epistemological wealth all of which organize one’s inner self with a system of

internal values and focus. The positions here is against the background that against the

materialist position, man is more than a material, a machine.

For footnote

[The facts about man is much more complicated than any ordinary machine built up of

replaceable parts. Although man acts and operates, his activities come and go, begin and

cease, yet man remains unlike other animals that follow a similarly predictable pattern. Like

other animals man eats, sleeps, and reproduces, but he finds out he is not content with just

doing those things. More than other animals who follow the same physiological programme,

man wants to know why he does those things. He wants to know why he is here. He seeks

meaning for his life now and the hope for the future. These deeper needs point to a quality

that is unique to man – namely spirituality 1which shows that man’s being transcends his

physical body. He is also spiritual. This is why against the materialist school of thought

which holds that man is composed of matter alone and denies that there is any spiritual

element in man, yet man presents other realities in his existence that is not materially

accountable. According to Godwin Azenabor man is seen as unity, a single substance

composed matter and spiritual form. Man is not just the physical matter, as the scientific

concept impresses on us but has richer and nobler super existence which is spiritual. “Man is

seen as a metaphysical being, an animal that nourishes its life on transcendental things since

he is the only animal that asks and knows the “why” and “how” of things. (Azenabor

Godwin, “A Philosophical Conception of Man, Philosophical Psychology, Selected Readings,

(ed) Godwin Azenabor, Lagos, Concept Pub. 2010, p. 9.)While the material aspect of man

links him up to the material, there is an aspect of that links that links him to the spiritual
realm for he is rational animal. “Man shares with the spiritual beings .... relative

consciousness, freedom and volition and with the non human animals he shares instincts and

emotions.” (Egbai, 2).Mary Egbai, “The Purpose of Human Existence” in Life and Death:

Philosophical Perspectives, (ed) by Lawrence Odey Ojong, Abuja: Gamecahngers Media,

2021, p. xii).

It is our considered position that to have flourishing life or to be happy, it is fundamentally

important to have an organized inner self, a sense of purpose, a reason for existence, a driving

force, a credo. If not, the individual will have coarse spirit, experience an existential

confusion, an anxious sense of emptiness that transcends the world of the five senses.

Spiritual value is enamored by knowledge which influences choices, shapes the patterns of

behavior, values and attitudes, to see beyond the passing flux of immediate things and give

spiritual impetus to the learning process and create the interior disposition to sustained

discipline in the learning process. It produces such an intellectual who Bernard Fonlon

(1969:87) describes as the “keeper of the public conscience.”

An organized inner life makes for a code of conduct or discipline and saves one from

careless, irresponsible or carefree existence. Inner life acts as anchor in the midst of the

changing faces of the outward existence. They act like maps that guide our interaction with

others, friends and family, in our business and professional engagements. They reflect in

one’s personal attitudes and judgments, choices, behavior, relationships,

Spiritual life or health is important and next to the value of biological life because the whole

network of outward realities – economy, human relationships, existential expectations - are

subject to change and when they do change according to their nature, a spiritual anchor

becomes necessary to keep meaning afloat in the attendant meaninglessness

Factors that could help in the organization of the inner life are religion and education.

Religion comes in here as a faith or meaning seeking community which forges a great

instrument of discipline, moral and self order consciousness. Another factor is education as it

provides a compass. In the context of education is parenting where parents teach their

children the necessary dos and dont’s of human interaction. If parenting is neglected, children

grow up without a compass, mental attitude, commitment, honesty, hard work, focus,

perseverance, persistence, discipline, a can-do spirit which are selling points in life.

Social Value:

To live a happy, flourishing life one must have a very high sense of social value, that is the

place and importance of other human beings and the essence of connecting well with them.

This is because self-transcendence, that is the desire to go beyond oneself is innate in man.

Such that every man wants to connect with his kind. Metaphysically, the nature and at the

same time dimensions in the being of man suggest an underlying mystery and complexity.

Man is at the same time an individual being and a social being. He is an individual as long as

he is essentially complete in itself as an entity but also a social being as long as he lives and

needs the company of others in the society. On the social nature of man Aristotle wrote “But

he who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself,

must be either a beast or a god”.8 Aristotle, insists that “a social instinct is implanted in all

men by nature … he who first founded the state was the greatest of benefactors”.

That is why although each man, is metaphysically or essentially complete as much as he is

composed of body and soul yet on the other hand he is incomplete inasmuch as thrown into

and left alone in the world. He has a continuous yearning for more due to the incompleteness

and lack in him. This lack naturally spurs him to tend beyond, and to seek the other.

Heidegger emphasizes that:

 It is essential to the basic constitutions of Dasein (man-in-the-world with others) that
there is constantly something still to be settled… such a lack of totality signifies that
there is something still outstanding in one’s potentiality – for – Being.7

It is against that background that to have a flourishing life, it is only in living together with

others in the society that the individual man finds his fulfilment and the meaning of his own

being. Self-fulfilment is difficult or even impossible if men were to live isolated from one

another. Hence the society – friends, good human relations etc - is of great importance to

human happiness. Platos words below throws light on this:

The proof that the state is a creation of nature and prior to the individual is that the
individual, when isolated, is like a part in relation to the whole. But he who is unable
to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be
either a beast or a god: he is no part of a state.9

Existence for man is ‘being-with-others’ or ‘being-with-one-another” 10. This correctly

corresponds to Heidegger’s idea of “dasein”, a concept which he used to designate man as a

“being-in-the-world.” For Heidegger, “dasein is an entity which is in each case myself, its

being is in each case mine.” Though dasein in a way describes the being of man as personal,

Heidegger would insist that “being-in-the-world” is the basic state of “Dasein.”. Man as long

as he is alive is always there in the world with others. In the world, he cannot avoid

encountering other men. He is always put or thrown into an encounter with others in the

environment he operates – encounters that steadily shape his individuality. No one lives

without the help of others around him or her. In fact each of us no matter how much we tend

to emphasize our individual, in order to achieve social cohesion, tends to sink our

individuality in the social crowd.11 ‘In order to succeed’ Hendrick van Loon writes, I was

obliged to sink my individuality in the composite character of the tribe."

This means that as an individual man may be complete but as a social being he needs and is

always searching for more outside himself in others. This idea of man’s search for more
outside himself is what is technically referred to as self transcendence. Transcendence comes

from the Latin roots “trans” meaning beyond and “scandere” meaning to climb. Cosmic

allurement is encoded into our genes. We grow up with a desire to connect: to find safety,

nourishment, and protection when we are infants; to discover playmates and friends when we

are in school, to choose a way of life. This is the origin or history of man’s social

dependence. Man by his basic constitution is a social being - a being that can only survive or

succeed in the company of others. Social cooperation is the only way the individual can grow

and develop. This is never an accident but something natural to humanity. Life succeeds on

the principle of the large crowd on a banquet who can only feed by feeding each other in

exchange.

This in practical terms means that we need others, quality friends, a confidant, heart mender,

soul mate if we are to really feel good, maintain psychological health, boost self esteem. To

flourish as a person, good relationship with your family (family here is not just the biological

but all those people you spend most of your time with such as your blood relatives, spouse,

co-workers, classmates etc). For example, you cannot afford to be in crises with your father,

mother, siblings or spouse, classmates or workmates and expect to be happy and to live a

stable life. Poor relationship with these people will affect your existential disposition and

happiness.

According to Alasdair Maclntyre in his communitarian theory, individual’s commitment to

the community is an imperative because the community represents common interest.

Communitarian theory de-emphasizes independent rights of individual because man is a

community being by nature and realizes himself in the community through reciprocal

relationship. Therefore, in order to enjoy our rights we need to associate to each other by

respecting our common rights and common duties.27

One way to regularly check your commitment to social value that is friendship is the The

Four Way Test. The Four Way Test simply means to fore-screen our social behaviour with

these questions before we carry them. “Is it the truth” “Is it fair to all concerned” “Will it

build Goodwill and better Friendship” “Will it build Goodwill and better Friendship.”The

Four Way Test, if constantly applied in social relations because it helps one to think through

his intended actions in terms of how it affects others before carrying them out. It is a succinct

ethical rule that require that we treat others fairly and humanely in recognition that they

necessary for our own success. “Is it the truth” the first of the four way test requires that we

must make sure the particular action is consistent with reality. Truth is timeless,

unchangeable and just in the whole corporate view of reality. “Is it fair to all concerned”

requires us to treat others in business, relationship and everything we with dignity and

honour. “Will it build Goodwill and better Friendship” Whatever we do in pursuit of success

foster goodwill and friendship in the long run. “Will it be Beneficial to all Concerned?” This

question eliminates the dog-eat-dog principle of ruthless competition and substitutes the idea

of construct and creative competition. Every decision must be made after thoughtful

consideration of how it affects all who are concerned. The Four Way Test keeps us alert to

the sociological truism that effective living is simply a matter of value trading. Everyone

brings some certain value to the table which the person exchanges for other values. This is

how life works.

(New Horizons in Service – The Challenge of Rotary, An Address by Beremako (Bob), E.

Ogbuagu OON, District Governor of Rotary International District 911at the official
installation ceremony, Tuesday August 2, 1983 Multi purpose Hall Owerri, Imo State,
Nigeria.) 3.Odey, Okwoeze John, Mahatma Ghandi: A Profile in Love, Peace and Non
Violence, Enugu: Snaap Press, 1993, p. 15.
Material value

Material value here entails all you do to keep life going, body and soul together. While it is

of paramount importance that an individual confers a good importance to his source of

livelihood yet it is the position of this essay is that among the four fundamental values,

material value or is the last. No doubt it is important one works hard to make money in order

to make life as comfortable as possible. Material success, studying hard, engaging in more

businesses are important they placed last in the hierarchy of the first four fundamental

values because all other three of the fundamental values must be in place in order to floursish

materially. Against the modern trend of placing material value at the forefront, expectation

of some that this should even be the first value because the most other values tend to depend

on means of livelihood, material success revolves around the functionality of the previous

three. For instance one must have sound health before he can make money.

It is important in the context of this essay to emphasize the importance of developing the

right attitude – moderate quest- towards money. There is need to understand very well the

Biblical principle that “a man’s life does not consist in what he has” but in his relationship

with God. It is only with this attitude that man becomes the master of money and not a slave,

and is saved from quick killers associated with money sickness syndrome. Nothing is as

rejuvenating as not to be under the heavy burden that wealth and undue attachment to

material things could weigh on the psyche

Conclusion

The paper was provoked by the inordinate placement and pursuit of material success as the

ultimate and most fundamental value. The paper dealt the modern man’s disillusionment that

follows the ultimate position he places material success. It is argued that in the end happiness

comes from taking good care of one’s health first and thus maintaining life, having an
existential credo, volunteering and investing in honest relationship, doing good to others and

ultimately finally consciously choosing to be happy. This means that in search of the

universal goal of happiness, the primary consideration should not be given to money. The

middle point is that, one should consciously make enough money that make life comfortable

without gas lighting oneself to make money the ultimate value.

What this means in practice using time to demonstrate it is that if you have just 24hourss.

Give the first priority to what improves your life, take time to read, take time to seek God

and meaning, do your job well in order to guarantee your livelihood, have time for family and

friends, take care of your assets, then have time for friends. To spend all your time on any

one of them at the expense of others then there is a problem. For instance to spend all of ones

time visiting friends without minding your job is misplacement of values because those

friends will desert you if you fail in your job and not able to make money. It is wrong for

instance to concentrate on your job without knowledge else others will take it from you or to

go to church and fast till you forget your health. If we take pleasure first, before our

occupation that provides means to pay for the pleasure, as we tend to do these days, then

there is a problem. To do everything possible just to acquire more and more money at the

expense of life, forgetting to acquire knowledge, and without a spiritual anchor is a disservice

to one’s quest for the good life.

The greatest error today is the prioritization of money as the first value, throwing other things

aboard in the pursuit of money. Stressing and stretching health, completely neglecting

relationships; parenting and other important values in the pursuit of money and wealth. It is

wrong as we see today to identify happiness with money and believe that the more money a

person acquires the happier he becomes.

We must therefore organize and hold on to our own values in the order stated above in order

to be happy as individuals as any inversion will bring trouble and unrest. A chinese proverb

can help us summarize this discourse very well. It says: “if there is righteousness in the heart,

there will be beauty in character. If there is beauty in character, there will be harmony in the

home. When there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation and there will be

peace in the world.”