In reviewing books about our society’s vices, Christine Sismondo poses the question: Do we chatter on about vice because we lack a concept of virtue (in our secular world)? She points out that one of the earliest philosophies of virtue was sketched out by Aristotle with the basic question of how to achieve happiness: years of hard work, performance of virtuous acts, and living in accordance with reason – i.e. the Golden Mean. The Golden Mean would balance courage, liberality, and modesty, say, with a variety of pleasures –sex, wine and food. Happiness was a state of character in Greece while today happiness is a mood, possibly chemically induced.
The 'Golden Mean' would have us be human: neither too good nor too bad. We would have to reconsider "happiness" for our modern world as well as virute and vice. Personally, I think we could stick with Aristotle.
Abstinence: as deadly a sin as excess?
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chonsigirl
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Abstinence: as deadly a sin as excess?
Maybe if we precede a little further back in time, with Plato's virtue-based eudaemonistic ethics. I think that is a very good goal to attempt.
Abstinence: as deadly a sin as excess?
I think that whenever we are in doubt, we always go back to the Greeks, and there is a reason for that. Personally, I find Aristotle's ideas always interesting, I think I have the Nicomeadian Ethics here somewhere, but I wouldn't agree with everything he says now, but as philosophies go, certainly his ideas about the "golden mean" and about what human beings should aim for were certainly pragmatic and made a lot of sense in most respects.
"We are never so happy, never so unhappy, as we imagine"
Le Rochefoucauld.
"A smack in the face settles all arguments, then you can move on kid."
My dad 1986.
Le Rochefoucauld.
"A smack in the face settles all arguments, then you can move on kid."
My dad 1986.
Abstinence: as deadly a sin as excess?
Pinky;571095 wrote: Am I the only one not going on what philosiphers say?:-3
Oh dear, looks like I am. Well, I'm just going on my own philosophy here, do what makes you happy that you can live with...what else is there to it?
I think that cool pinks, what I have found is that particularly with the "old" philosophers from thousands of years ago, that what they surmised about being a person back then, and the lessons they drew from personal experience were exactly the same as being a person (living in the real world, not media land) right now, (not everything, mind you it doesn't all translate, and they got plenty wrong as well) but almost everything about just being a person, its like Shakespeare, he could have written those plays last week about Iraq and they would have been as true now as they were then, because they were written "truthfully" thats why people still read these things, and thats why maybe they won't be reading Bridget Jones Diary part II or Ronan Keating's Autobiography in 30 years, know what I mean?
Oh dear, looks like I am. Well, I'm just going on my own philosophy here, do what makes you happy that you can live with...what else is there to it?
I think that cool pinks, what I have found is that particularly with the "old" philosophers from thousands of years ago, that what they surmised about being a person back then, and the lessons they drew from personal experience were exactly the same as being a person (living in the real world, not media land) right now, (not everything, mind you it doesn't all translate, and they got plenty wrong as well) but almost everything about just being a person, its like Shakespeare, he could have written those plays last week about Iraq and they would have been as true now as they were then, because they were written "truthfully" thats why people still read these things, and thats why maybe they won't be reading Bridget Jones Diary part II or Ronan Keating's Autobiography in 30 years, know what I mean?
"We are never so happy, never so unhappy, as we imagine"
Le Rochefoucauld.
"A smack in the face settles all arguments, then you can move on kid."
My dad 1986.
Le Rochefoucauld.
"A smack in the face settles all arguments, then you can move on kid."
My dad 1986.
Abstinence: as deadly a sin as excess?
Pinky;571155 wrote: Yup, I can totally relate to that. All the themes that make up human life are included in the classics that people still read now. War, Love, Death, Tragedy, etc.
I think that's why the Brontes are still popular today (just going off tangent here!)
The themes that they introduced were shocking to their society, but not so much to ours, yet we can still empathise with the characters.
I guess what we are saying is thats what the difference is between true literature, great art, and music, and just books, paintings, and silly tunes, init? :-6
I think that's why the Brontes are still popular today (just going off tangent here!)
The themes that they introduced were shocking to their society, but not so much to ours, yet we can still empathise with the characters.
I guess what we are saying is thats what the difference is between true literature, great art, and music, and just books, paintings, and silly tunes, init? :-6
"We are never so happy, never so unhappy, as we imagine"
Le Rochefoucauld.
"A smack in the face settles all arguments, then you can move on kid."
My dad 1986.
Le Rochefoucauld.
"A smack in the face settles all arguments, then you can move on kid."
My dad 1986.