Far from having a “bucket list”, I now understand that the proper conduct of the second half of life is to approach something like what the Tibetan Buddhists call tukdam, to do less and less, but only to sit and meditate, and to breathe once every century or so, so that by the time you actually … Continue reading The Good Life Closes Out Bad Possibilities
Tag: good
Schools of Virtue
"Marion Turner, professor of English literature at Oxford University, put it frankly: “I’m not trained to teach students how to be good people, and that’s not my job.”It’s a fair point. It is very pleasant to make a list of intellectual virtues, but why should we believe that academics can teach students courage, humility or … Continue reading Schools of Virtue
Looking & Acting Bad
"“Do you want material that looks bad before it acts bad, like shingles or clapboard, or one that acts bad long before it looks bad, like vinyl siding? A whole philosophy of maintenance falls one way or the other with the answer.”-Stewart Brand, "How Buildings Learn." True of maintenance, true of life. In 1997, the … Continue reading Looking & Acting Bad
Possessed by Demons or Become Your Own?
It is of course famously difficult to say exactly what happens in [Philip K Dick’s The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch], because the essential question that the major characters have is always: What is actually happening? But at least one major potential timeline, perhaps the most likely timeline, tells a story like this: Palmer Eldritch … Continue reading Possessed by Demons or Become Your Own?
On Being Evil
Are you a good person? If you ask most people this question, they'll answer, "Yes." Of course they are. They might think to themselves, "I'm not a monster. I'm not like X." Pick your monster, let X equal Hitler for illustration purposes here. But, what's the threshold for good? Does the same thinking apply in … Continue reading On Being Evil
The Primary Human Problem
Note: This is why I published the Zuihitsu post yesterday. Trying to pack these ideas into a coherent essay is something I'm going to have to work on before it takes on a useful shape. At the center of human problems are two facts: Most people are good.Most people are also self-centered, lazy and stubborn. … Continue reading The Primary Human Problem
Conquering Evil
"Evil can not be conquered within this world. It can only be resisted in oneself."Kung Fu (television series), Master PoThe world is full of people that look at the world they live in and see evil all around them. It's easy to point to outliers, such as Ted Kaczynski, a.k.a., the Unabomber, to illustrate the … Continue reading Conquering Evil
Maybe, Considering Consequences
The whole process of nature is a integrated process of immense complexity. You never know what the consequences will really be from apparent good or bad fortune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4TZMxkxySc
Varieties of Good
Ethics is talked about having three flavors: consequentialism, deontological and virtue ethics. One way of thinking about it is that consequentialism is relative value. Deontological ethics is value according to an objective standard. Virtue ethics is inherent value.
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