In Praise of Virtue

In Praise of Virtue
Author: Benjamin Wirt Farley
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 200
Release: 1995
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780802807922

In this resourceful and illuminating exploration of the biblical virtues, Benjamin W. Farley examines both the Old and the New Testament and applies their teachings on moral character to the Christian life today. In the process, Farley critically reviews the current philosophical and theological interest in virtue, engages the Aristotelian, Thomist, and modern views of virtue, incorporates and responds to feminist concerns, and discusses the importance of the biblical virtues for our pluralistic age.

The Book of Virtues

The Book of Virtues
Author: William J. Bennett
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 1917
Release: 2010-05-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1439126259

Responsibility. Courage. Compassion. Honesty. Friendship. Persistence. Faith. Everyone recognizes these traits as essentials of good character. In order for our children to develop such traits, we have to offer them examples of good and bad, right and wrong. And the best places to find them are in great works of literature and exemplary stories from history. William J. Bennett has collected hundreds of stories in The Book of Virtues, an instructive and inspiring anthology that will help children understand and develop character -- and help adults teach them. From the Bible to American history, from Greek mythology to English poetry, from fairy tales to modern fiction, these stories are a rich mine of moral literacy, a reliable moral reference point that will help anchor our children and ourselves in our culture, our history, and our traditions -- the sources of the ideals by which we wish to live our lives. Complete with instructive introductions and notes, The Book of Virtues is a book the whole family can read and enjoy -- and learn from -- together.

In praise of idleness

In praise of idleness
Author: Bertrand Russell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1972
Genre:
ISBN:

Verzamelde opstellen van de Engelse wijsgeer (1872-1970)

Virtue Is Knowledge

Virtue Is Knowledge
Author: Lorraine Smith Pangle
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2014-05-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 022613668X

The relation between virtue and knowledge is at the heart of the Socratic view of human excellence, but it also points to a central puzzle of the Platonic dialogues: Can Socrates be serious in his claims that human excellence is constituted by one virtue, that vice is merely the result of ignorance, and that the correct response to crime is therefore not punishment but education? Or are these assertions mere rhetorical ploys by a notoriously complex thinker? Lorraine Smith Pangle traces the argument for the primacy of virtue and the power of knowledge throughout the five dialogues that feature them most prominently—the Apology, Gorgias, Protagoras, Meno, and Laws—and reveals the truth at the core of these seemingly strange claims. She argues that Socrates was more aware of the complex causes of human action and of the power of irrational passions than a cursory reading might suggest. Pangle’s perceptive analyses reveal that many of Socrates’s teachings in fact explore the factors that make it difficult for humans to be the rational creatures that he at first seems to claim. Also critical to Pangle’s reading is her emphasis on the political dimensions of the dialogues. Underlying many of the paradoxes, she shows, is a distinction between philosophic and civic virtue that is critical to understanding them. Ultimately, Pangle offers a radically unconventional way of reading Socrates’s views of human excellence: Virtue is not knowledge in any ordinary sense, but true virtue is nothing other than wisdom.

Excellence

Excellence
Author: Andreas J. Köstenberger
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2011-10-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433530511

We are called to excellence in all aspects of our lives and activities, and not least in our character. Andreas Köstenberger summons all Christians, and especially aspiring pastors, scholars, and teachers, to a life of virtue lived out in excellence. Köstenberger moves through Christian virtues chapter by chapter, outlining the Bible's teaching and showing how Christ-dependent excellence in each area will have a profound impact on one's ministry and scholarship. Virtues covered include grace, courage, integrity, creativity, eloquence, humility, diligence, and service. This unique book is an important character check for all Christians engaged in teaching and ministry, and especially for those in training. Köstenberger's thoughtful volume will be a valuable touchstone for readers, for one's character is a critical matter in both scholarship and ministry.

The Book of Virtues: 30th Anniversary Edition

The Book of Virtues: 30th Anniversary Edition
Author: William J. Bennett
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 640
Release: 2022-11-29
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1668017970

Help your children develop moral character with this updated, 30th anniversary edition of the perennial classic The Book of Virtues. Almost 3 million copies of the Book of Virtues have been sold since it was published in 1993. It is one of the most popular moral primers ever written, an inspiring anthology that helps children understand and develop character—and helps parents teach it to them. Thirty years ago, readers thought that the times were right for a book about moral literacy. Back then, Americans worried that schools were no longer parents’ allies in teaching good character. As the book’s original introduction noted, “moral anchors and moorings have never been more necessary.” If that was true in the 1990s, it is even more true today. The explosion of information with the Internet has left many unsure of what is valuable and what is not. Responsibility. Courage. Compassion. Loyalty. Honesty. Friendship. Persistence. Hard work. Self-discipline. Faith. These remain the essentials of good character. The Book of Virtues contains hundreds of exemplary stories offering children examples of good and bad, right and wrong. Drawing on the Bible, American history, Greek mythology, English poetry, fairy tales, and modern fiction, William J. and Elayne Bennett show children the many virtuous paths they can follow—and the ones they ought to avoid. For the 30th anniversary edition, the Bennetts have slimmed down the book’s contents, while also finding room to introduce such figures as Mother Teresa, Colin Powell, and heroes of 9/11 and the War in Afghanistan. Here is a rich mine of moral literacy to teach a new generation of children about American culture, history, and traditions—ultimately, the ideals by which we wish to live our lives. The updated edition of The Book of Virtues will continue a legacy of raising moral children far into a new century.

Virtue Hoarders

Virtue Hoarders
Author: Catherine Liu
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 83
Release: 2021-01-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1452966044

A denunciation of the credentialed elite class that serves capitalism while insisting on its own progressive heroism Professional Managerial Class (PMC) elite workers labor in a world of performative identity and virtue signaling, publicizing an ability to do ordinary things in fundamentally superior ways. Author Catherine Liu shows how the PMC stands in the way of social justice and economic redistribution by promoting meritocracy, philanthropy, and other self-serving operations to abet an individualist path to a better world. Virtue Hoarders is an unapologetically polemical call to reject making a virtue out of taste and consumption habits. Forerunners: Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.

Passions and Virtue

Passions and Virtue
Author: Servais Pinckaers
Publisher: CUA Press
Total Pages: 153
Release: 2015
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0813227518

This book, the last that noted moral theologian Servais Pinckaers, OP, wrote before his death, was conceived as a follow-up to his previous work Plaidoyer pour la vertu (An Appeal for Virtue) (2007) Pinckaers' aim in Passions and Virtue was to show the positive and essential role that our emotions play in the life of virtue. His purpose is part of a larger project of renewing moral theology, a theology too often experienced as an ethics of obligation rather than as a practical guide to living virtuously. To this end, Pinckaers sketches a positive psychology of the passions as found in the biblical tradition, in the writings of the Fathers of the Church, in pagan authors and, especially, in the writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Tolerance Among the Virtues

Tolerance Among the Virtues
Author: John R. Bowlin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2019-07-16
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0691191697

In a pluralistic society such as ours, tolerance is a virtue—but it doesn't always seem so. Some suspect that it entangles us in unacceptable moral compromises and inequalities of power, while others dismiss it as mere political correctness or doubt that it can safeguard the moral and political relationships we value. Tolerance among the Virtues provides a vigorous defense of tolerance against its many critics and shows why the virtue of tolerance involves exercising judgment across a variety of different circumstances and relationships—not simply applying a prescribed set of rules. Drawing inspiration from St. Paul, Aquinas, and Wittgenstein, John Bowlin offers a nuanced inquiry into tolerance as a virtue. He explains why the advocates and debunkers of toleration have reached an impasse, and he suggests a new way forward by distinguishing the virtue of tolerance from its false look-alikes, and from its sibling, forbearance. Some acts of toleration are right and good, while others amount to indifference, complicity, or condescension. Some persons are able to draw these distinctions well and to act in accord with their better judgment. When we praise them as tolerant, we are commending them as virtuous. Bowlin explores what that commendation means. Tolerance among the Virtues offers invaluable insights into how to live amid differences we cannot endorse—beliefs we consider false, actions we think are unjust, institutional arrangements we consider cruel or corrupt, and persons who embody what we oppose.

On Patience

On Patience
Author: Matthew Pianalto
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2016-05-31
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 149852821X

Many of us are so busy that we might be tempted to think we don’t have time to be patient. However, that idea involves a serious underestimation of what patience is and why it matters. In On Patience, Matthew Pianalto revives a richer understanding of what patience is and why it is centrally important in both virtue theory and everyday life. Drawing from a wide range of philosophical and religious sources, Pianalto shows that our contemporary tendency to equate patience with waiting fails to do justice to other aspects of patience such as tolerance, perseverance, and the opposition of patience to anger. With this broader understanding of patience, Pianalto further shows how patience supports the development of other moral strengths, such as courage, justice, love, and hope. In these ways, On Patience sheds light on Franz Kafka’s remark that, “Patience is the master key to every situation,” and Gregory the Great’s perhaps surprising claim that, “Patience is the root and guardian of all the virtues.” This first book-length contemporary philosophical examination of patience will be of interest to students and scholars not just of virtue ethics, but also of moral philosophy more broadly.