What does it mean to live well and what impact can this have on our death? Can living well really help us achieve a so-called good death?

These issues have preoccupied great minds throughout the ages, including Aristotle and Plato, beginning with the idea that living well, the good life, consists of happiness. However, in philosophical terms, happiness can be seen as less of a goal or an end state, but a manner of living; a subjective feeling.

In this special episode of the Art of Dying Well podcast we take a deep dive into the philosophy of these existential issues with Dr Christopher Hamilton, author and Reader in Philosophy at King’s College London.

Christopher has written several books including Middle Age (The Art of Life), which examines how we cope with the potential of diminishment and reconciling ourselves to the one life that we are living. He also shares his personal experience of coming to terms with a profoundly life-changing event, and learning to live with not having all the answers. And also, can we ask different questions about our life by thinking more constructively?