In 399 B.C.E., the year Socrates was put on trial in ancient Athens, he met a prosecutor (for lack of a better word) on the steps of the Court of Archon. His name was Euthyphro, and, astonishingly, he was prosecuting his very own father for murder. He felt it would be "pollution" to allow his father to go unpunished; a stain upon his good name. They get to talking, and soon Socrates has the arrogant man in his grasp. This blog is about the nature of values according to Socrates, which is essentially Socratic dialogue. The question being explored, specifically, is whether goodness is goodn ..read more

This essay is fully titled: "Thinking Like Cathedral Builders: Outrageous Behavior, Freedom, and Hope" and is authored by John Abrams. It is one of the chapters in the book LIVING A LIFE OF VALUE. In this piece, Abrams, president and CEO of South Mountain Company, Inc. , a forty-year-old employee-owned design and building company located on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts and the author of THE COMPANY WE KEEP: Reinventing Small Business for Community, People, and Place (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2005) writes wonderfully. The post Author John Abrams on His Employee-Owned Company ..read more

"One always needs mentors as one cultivates virtues in life. Relationships matter for moral virtue" maintains Notre Dame Professor of Psychology, Darcia Narvaez. This blog is a very brief adaptation of her book Developing the Virtues, edited by Narvaez and colleagues Julia Annas, and Nancy E. Snow. Essentially the question is asked, "What is virtue, and how is it developed?" It has been a salient question at least since the time of Socrates, and certainly propounded by Plato's student, Aristotle. The post Psychologist Darcia Narvaez on Developing Virtue appeared first on Values of the Wise ..read more

Paternalism is the idea that the State (one's country) has a right to determine some rules that citizens are obliged to follow because the State knows better and something important is on the line. So, stopping at a traffic light might simply be a law - and one that everyone can agree with. Libertarians, however, object to some laws made by lawmakers on the grounds that they are unnecessarily paternalistic, and sap the liberty of the individual. Wearing helmets during motorcycling is a good example of an issue that is debated between libertarians and those who feel that the individual is not n ..read more

Those of you who know anything about my writings or political belief system might find the following surprising: Donald Trump and I share at least one value in common. Is it greed? Immorality? Do we both value self-aggrandizement at the expense of the community/country? No – at least, I hope not! Click through to find out which one I am referring to, and why. The post Loyalty, Friendship, and Civic Virtue appeared first on Values of the Wise ..read more

All due respect to Tom Morris, who is an intellectual titan. He wrote this piece in a LinkedIn post. At first I was very excited to repost it as a blog. It had a decent length, and the title – wow! – I figured it had to be good. Well, it wasn't, exactly. The issue with the post was not that it wasn't fair for Morris to use that title to draw readers to his works of fiction. I am fully willing to grant that his books are about wisdom in the indirect sense, and like many fantastic and hallmark examples of literature throughout the ages – Tolstoy, Austen, Hemingway, Jong – we can find much in the ..read more

There is a strain of experiments buoyed by theory that is in the category of social psychology - the branch of the study of human behavior that locates a human being in their social context. That is, people may have some individuality, some trait-like tendencies to think, feel, perceive, and act in a more or less typical way (i.e., based on their personality type). Social psychologists study how human beings function in relation to their environment. This essentially radical environmental approach doesn't mimic the approach of Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner - dyed-in-the-wool environmentalists ..read more

Moral hypocrisy – basically making an exception of oneself when it comes to behavior that is wrong – is deeply embedded in political conservative ideology, in my opinion. In a written piece entitled "Why we are all moral hypocrites – and what we can do about it", researcher Jared Piazza, who looked into morality, highlights the following: "In one study, we had people consider which traits they rate highest in people who occupied different roles in their life – from staff at the grocery counter to teachers, judges and parents. Moral traits, such as being honest, fair and trustworthy, were value ..read more

Guest blogger Paul D. Van Pelt opines on these concepts–important topics to consider in 2023!   Think of arrogance, ignorance and pride as on a continuum. Pride is often viewed as an attribute, as well it should be. We are proud of our families and lifetime achievements. In all good intention, we are sometimes proud […] The post Arrogance, Ignorance & Pride appeared first on Values of the Wise ..read more

George C. Wallace, the multi-term governor of Alabama, ran for president of the United States repeatedly. He was shot and he was the victim of skullduggery by the Democrats to keep him off the ticket. He never did quite get traction enough to win, but that didn't mean he wasn't supported by 15-20% of the populace. He was virtually indefatigable, and quite transparent. Though, apparently, he wasn't a white supremacist through-and-through, like politicians David Duke, or Patrick Buchanan. He was an opportunist; a changeling. Henry A. Wallace, Franklin Roosevelt's three-term vice-president, scien ..read more