-
Attend to What Matters: Fear
I had reason to refocus on this idea on a recent trip to the dentist. I haven’t had much dental work in my life, but when I have, I am one of those people for whom the anaesthetic never really works properly the first or second (or sometimes third or fourth) time. I know this, having been taught it by repeated experience, but of course any dentist encountering me for the first time must learn it for themselves.
-
Aristotle’s Happy Middle
Look around you, and have a think, and draw up a list of qualities that some people have that you admire or appreciate. What comes to mind? It’s not for Aristotle (or me) to list the virtues, nor identify their purposes, because you can do this for yourself based on your own observations and reflections. What Aristotle points out is that virtues are very important, but you can have too much of a good thing. […]
-
The Courage of Cynicism
I love the Cynics and I wish I were courageous enough to be one. I think they are essentially right in everything they say. A student once expressed surprise at this, when I said as much in a lecture, pointing out that I had celebrated Socrates’ prioritisation of the ethical. Weren’t the two incompatible? Socrates […]
-
Ask the Right Question: The Laches
Socrates is always asking questions. But not just any questions: he wants to ask the right questions. Understanding which, of all the questions, is the right question, and how to ask that question in the right way, is one of the most important things you can learn from philosophy. If you ask the wrong question you will always get the wrong answer.
An experiment with philosophy as a way of life
tobybetenson.com 