Look over Chapter 1 section on Aristotle again and think about the lecture. According to Aristotle, moral qualities can be destroyed by both excess and deficiency. A virtue is a mean or balance between these things. Courage, Justice, Modesty, Gentleness, Friendliness are listed as examples. Choose a virtue either listed in the lecture or on the section on Aristotle's Moral Virtue in the book, then think of either a fictitious character from film or literature or real human being that posses these qualities. Describe how this virtue balances between two extremes and how this person fits.
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Week 3
1-23-09
Danita,
Aristotle was the student of Plato
who thought that happiness or "Eudaimonia" was the highest human good and total well being. Aristotle believed that moving forward and having balance was the source of happiness and the sense of moral virtue. Having tolerance while having individual ideas and morals is what he stood for.
A person of good morals having a modest, courageous, and virtueous attitude is Martin Luther King Jr. He believed that love is the center of the non-violence movement. Being a Christian means to Love thy neighbor as thyself while also respecting their ideas while in the same token, having beliefs is Christ's doctrine to shine the light of Christ by how we live and treat people. He found a balance to say hey, we don't hate you but we love all yet we disagree with how we minorities are being unequally treated.
He showed a sense of balance, courage, love, charity,friendliness, and modesty. As an individual I myself carry some of those traits as a chritian should have, yet I'm am not perfect,and I know that it takes more than just my will power to CHANGE my ways. Knowing that life is a process and having a balance is a PROCESS;with wanting help from GOD, I live day by day trying to take necessary steps to move forward from past mistakes onto a higher maturity spiritually and mentally.
Kristy Killian
Week 2
I would have to say that my father and mother are virtuous. Their character trait would have to be courage. The situation that made them virtuous was when my family lived in oklahoma about 20 years ago. my mother who was 21yrs old and my father who was 23yrs old had a 6 years old son and me a 10 month year old baby. At that time everyone in Oklahoma was losing their jobs. My parents lived in a trailer on an arc of property and was doing somewhat ok. My father lost his job and searched everywhere to make some money. Things where so bad that he couldn't even get hired as a bag boy at a grocery store. There just were no jobs out there. Well one day my dad's sister who was in Florida sent my parents a news paper that had listings of jobs in Florida. Because things were booming there they thought about leaving everything they had and all of our family members to find a job there. Both my parents never lived anywhere else and both of their families were in Oklahoma. So after my dad gave up on finding a job in oklahoma him and my mother sold all their belonging and packed up their old beat up truck that only had one long seat with me and my bother and headed to Florida with only $800 dollars in their name. Now since I was just a baby I had to be in a car seat but my 6 year old brother at that time sat on the floor board all the way till we arrived in Tampa, Florida. We stayed with my dad's sister for a week and my parents put all their money down on a duplex apartment hoping that my dad would find a job soon so that they would pay next months rent. While my dad went out looking for work my mother stayed in the apartment with my and my brother without furniture, TV, anything. We slept on the floor and spent our days doing nothing. Thankfully my father found work at M.B. Hays and started to make pretty good money. Things soon got better. My mother was so happy when they saved enough money at that time to buy law furniture to sit on inside the house. As things progressed more money was saved and soon we had real house furniture and dishes. My mother then got a job at Coke Cola and has been working there since. My dad now owns his own business called Southland Restaurant Services. My parents now own their band new house and the property. they both came from the middle of no where and had about nothing and worked their way to the top. They took the risk of living everything they knew and owned to seek a better life for them and my brother and me. It takes a lot of courage to pack up everything and leave all your family to see if you can make it somewhere else. They didn't know for sure that things were going to work out or not but them having courage did lead them to eudaimonia.
I thought about this one and I didn’t want to use my parents as virtuous people, but as I continued to think if they were the virtuous people or persons that we had talked about in class, well the fit the profile. Both my mom and dad had to raise me and that in itself is pretty much unimaginable. They did raise me and I’m pretty sure that they did a pretty good job. Both my parents are all the categories of courageous, friendly, modest and gentle. I’m sure that I can say that they have made some wrong decisions throughout my life, but when I think about them they were for the right reasons. So my virtuous person is going to be my mom and dad! I felt to weird about making a person up.
Mankind as a whole is a greedy, self absorbed,excremental mass.We feed off each other pain and even the most seemingly innocent of us is harboring malicious intent for our fellow humans. I have never know any one person to be particularily virtuous aside from children. A child bears no evil intent from birth,only wide eyes and an eagerness to lean and absorb the world."Virtue" is simply a way of classifying the lesser villians in society. Is a person courageous if he leads his troops into a well planned attack and conquers a field of battle? Yes, but if he then also goes home and conquers his wifes' best friend on the dining room table,does it cancel out that victory? Does karma have a gold star chart? There is no consistent good, just momentary lapses in jerkdom. Cynical as this may sound it helps up remember that if there was no darkness in the world then how would we ever know the difference between that and the light. I believe you achieve happiness through understanding this balance and simply try not to piss people off. Don't try to be infallibly good and avoid being a poisonous cretin. simple.
I would have to say that my mother is a virtuous person. She always looked after the family. Even though my dad was a provider too, my mother just seemed to do more, meaning, after having four children, she somehow found the strength to go school and earn a degree as an RN. She did all this while having a full time job. I just don't know how she did it. I have a full time job, go to school full time, no children and have a difficult time. Anyway she finished school and was able to make a better life for herself and her family. My mother could always be counted on, she is very honest, sometimes a little too honest. She shows courage by not being afraid to take on something new and sticking to her tasks until they are complete. She is very inspirational to me. She taught me how to be independant and how to have perseverance. Watching her lets me know that anything can be accomplished. She always strives to do the right thing and always looks out and protects her family.
D.Hutchins
Michael Devoe
I thought plato's story the cave was an amazing example of pridicting human behavor and the move the matrix was a very good modern day verson of the that story. The people in the cave represent all the people of the world, main character was the neo was the person that escaped from the cave. The agents were the puppiters and the matrix in self i though was the cave and the shadows because it was made up of everything, the cave or city that the people were in and the shadows or thing they were forced to veiw and interact with. I also thought that the statement about the people in the cave fighting to protect the things the didn't know about and were ignorinte of was a very true statement. People naturally become comfertable with there surroundings and in the routine and will do anything to protect it.
Michael Devoe
There are and have been a lot of virtuous people in the world but most of the ones I can think of are people I've never met personally. I do however know one person in my live that I would gladly give the title of virtuous too. She is some very close to me and displays chateristics that are the very definition of the word virtuous. I'll call her JP because she is very humble and would mostly likely be very embarrassed if she read this.
She not more well off than anyone else I know but by far the most generous. She takes every opportunity she can to give. She believes that doing the morally right thing is not only the right thing to do but the only option she has. She is a very driven and capable person with many goals and ambitionous but does not get things she wants as easily as most but refuses to take a path that compromises her believes. I look up to her a great deal and am very thankful to be so close to her. She reminds me of the important things and drives me to do them to the best of my ability the right way.
who i believe to to virtuous is my mother. When I was a child with my older brother both of my parents had full time jobs and could not afford for us to go to pre school as it was. Then my father had to go on strike with his job at EB. He ended up being on strike for two and a half years. My mother was working full time as a bank teller and she was just excepted into nursing school and ended up not being able to do it because of the strike. With everything falling between their fingers and losing many different things. My mother kept working while my father was on strike and struggled to raise my brother and I. Everything we had was extremely rationed, because of her she made ends meet somehow. Ever since then getting our family back on our feet was her goal. When my the strike ended for my dad, through the entire time she always stayed positive telling us we will make it. We do not need anything materialistic we just need each other. With her always staying positive, and teaching me lessons along the way it has motivated me to do something with myself and I have to thank her for it.
I would have to say Bruce Lee is someone that is not only couragous and inventive but also a person of great character and heart. He lived in a time of great distrust and minimul tolerance for asian men. He was constantly pushed and challenged by people around him for his differences and he stood tall believing in himself and showing his pride in his culture and family. He always believed in teaching peaceful means and lessons to end conflicts but also have the ability to protect the ones you love as well as your self with balance, control, and a clear head. He taught students in a martial art called jeet kune do that he started by combining strong points from multiple martial arts. During his classes he also combined psycology and philsophy to help others learn and understand more about themselves, forcing them to relate to others around them and avoid judging based on initial looks. Bruce Lee accomplished this by having great understanding and love for others and allowing anyone to train in his dojo as long as they showed respect. Bruce Lee lived through alot of hard times trying to be accepted in a society that saw him as an outcast because he wasnt white and excelled by pushing through all the boundries and never losing heart.
This was slightly difficult for me because I don't think of people I know as being "virtuous." So, I'm going tell a family story about my grandfather, Jack McAlee, while he was an army cook in the Korean war.
Jack was stationed near the 38th parallel which was the boundary line between North and South Korea. He was stationed for the majority of the Korean War and worked as a cook. While there a teenaged Korean boy would show up from time to time and help my grandfather cook and do odd jobs. In return Jack would give him enough food for him and his family. I feel that this expresses Aristotle's virtue of friendliness.
Once Jack returned home he received a letter from a buddy still in Korea. The letter said that the kid had shown up to the camp. Once he heard that my grandfather had been sent home he said, "Mac go home, I go home," and they never saw the kid again.
When I think of a virtuous person in present times I think of my brother. He is not perfect, I didn't always think of him this way. He made mistakes and got in a lot of trouble when he was younger, but after my dad suddenly passed away he saw life completely different. I think he realized how precious life is and how in an instant it can be taken away. I myself didn't look at his death quite the same. I was angry.
He grew into such a caring and balanced person with such a big heart. He starting thinking rationaly and went back to school, got a job and kept it. He's getting married and is trying to adopt his fiance's daughter and loves her like his own.
I know that doesn't necessarily make someone virtuous but his attitude, the way he looks at life, and the way he is with people does. He doesn't let anything get him down. He goes out of his way to help people...strangers, and he can make you smile by just being present. The thing is though, he has no idea what an amazing person he has become, has always been.
My mom would definitely be someone that I would consider to be virtuous. Modesty is an attribute that my mom holds and puts to good use. My mom and her mother-in-law (my grandma but not my real one) do not get along, and they haven't liked each other for a long time. There's really a long story behind it all but the things my grandmother says about how my mom raised my sister and I, and about her clothes, and lots of other things really shows that my mom is modest. It could be so easy to snap back and say something back that is just as bad but my mom bites her tongue and keeps her own. Everyone is virtuous in their own way, it's whether or not it's put to good use that makes the difference.
There is one fictonal character in mind. The character would have to be Sailor Moon. I remember her since I was a little kid; Sailor Moon was a junior high student who reincarnated from the "princess of the moon." She protects the people and the planet she dearly loves. Her friendly personality allows her to make friends who are also reincarnated as her guardians or protectors of the moon. Sometimes she maybe a clutz or a big cry-baby, but as I mention again, when it comes to the planet earth being controled by evil forces, the human race and animals in the planet is at stake along with her friends and family, she would stand up against the evil forces through love and justice.
oops the last entry is by me Michael Kessler on Friday February 6, 2009 at 6:30am
-Kevin Mercier
In Aristotle's terms of a virtuous character I believe that my best friend Jason is the only person that stands out.
This kid is the only person I've come across who truly lives in accordance with reason. He has practically every virtuous trait you can think of and consistently keeps them at face with a remarkable amount of perseverance.
I am a very selfish person and I will always point out every single flaw, but he always takes it with a grain of salt and never gets rubbed the wrong way.
Every obstacle and every form of grief has been thrown in his face but he still remains courageous, always maintains his modesty along with his humble character. He doesn't boycott grief but he accepts it and understands everything with a very logical state of mind; a trait I personally envy and believe that one day I must manifest in order to truly be happy.
this was not a hard blog to post about. i really to seem like my dad is like aristotle and i am socrates. i have always felt like while i was growing up i had my dad thier to give me guidance and keep me balanced. the way that he would keep me balanced would be by having me go to school do my homework and keep my priorities in tact. i think that this picture is funny to me beacuse sometimes it makes me think of the time when i made a comment about wanting to go straight ahead and spend my money on the games, when i already made a commitment to paying for lunch. i was kept in line and and was happy because i was in my boundries and i had guidence.
i would have to say that i'm the most virtuous person i know. i live by my own personal code of ethics andi have my own personal moral. so by those i'm very virtuous. i think the picture is funny because no one really knows what they're talking about for all we know they could have been talking about bulding a house and the one dude was like it would be better to have all the rooms on the first floor and the other guy was like no build it up higher it would be cooler.
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