A Life of Virtue: An Introduction (with audio)

We are living in a society that has access to an abundance of knowledge, but we lack wisdom.

We have been connected to the globe online, but we feel more isolated and lonely.

We live in an age of tremendous economic prosperity and wealth, but we are never content, never satisfied.

A life of virtue is a blog about exploring questions that have concerned us since the birth of humanity. Questions that cannot be answered in a lab or solved by corporations. These are philosophical questions central to human existence:

– How can I live a good life?

– What is the purpose of my life?

– How can be we build prosperous, moral and ethical societies?

In our modern age we have been so focused on economic and technological progress that we have abandoned these philosophical pursuits. Individualism and consumerism are now the predominant ideologies in the West, and this has had immense repercussions for our society. Division and polarization have increasingly become a threat in our politics fracturing our sense of community and social cohesion.

The answers we seek to these questions have been debated throughout the centuries. They are not black and white, but require exploration – a vigorous pursuit of the truth. They require us to engage in rational dialogue with others, to view different perspectives and find areas of convergence and common ground.

This is philosophy as a way of life, come join me on this journey

A Life of Virtue: An Introduction A Life of Virtue: Philosophy as a Way of Life

The objective of A Life of Virtue Blog

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Redefining Success: Beyond Your Job Title

The term ‘quiet quitting’ has been getting a lot of media attention lately. It is a term to describe doing the bare minimum required at one’s job.

I am reposting this article because I think it speaks to the key issues that I believe are at the source of the recent phenomenon: stress, employee burnout and conflating one’s whole identity, status and meaning in life with their job title.

I do believe that work can provide you with purpose, but it becomes problematic when it subsumes all other areas of one’s life including one’s relationships, hobbies and passion projects.

What do you think about this trend of ‘quiet quitting’? Let me know in the comments

A Life of Virtue: Philosophy as a Way of Life

In the modern world, our job titles tend to be the centerpiece of our identities. When you meet someone new at a social gathering, the first piece of information that they will likely disclose to the question ‘what do you do?’ is the details of your chosen profession.

Your answer to this question will dictate how you will be perceived by others.

If you tell your new acquaintance that you have a senior or executive level position at a high performing business, you will be met with praise and admiration. You are someone who went to elite universities, wears trendy suits, sleeps in posh hotels and works late hours – the epitome of a success story. People will flock towards you with great interest and enthusiasm. You are seen to have high status, and in their eyes, your efforts should be celebrated.

On the other hand, if you tell this…

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The Modern Cave and the Question of Technology

Original content coming soon. In the meantime enjoy a reblog of an article I wrote on our evolving relationship with technology.

With technology becoming almost ubiquitous in modern life, I ask ‘how can we get in the right relationship with our devices’?

A Life of Virtue: Philosophy as a Way of Life

Plato’s Cave

Written over 2,000 years ago, Plato’s allegory of the cave in his book The Republic has become increasingly relevant in our hyper-connected digital age. As more and more aspects of our lives become mediated by our digital devices we become further separated from the direct experience. That is, what we can physically see, touch, smell and hear.

Plato’s Cave – Source

Plato provides us with a metaphor in which a group of prisoners do not have contact with the outside world. What they take for ‘reality’ is shadows and images that are projected on the wall. Further, these prisoners are not aware of their situation. The illusions are the only thing they have ever known.

The story continues with one of the prisoners escaping from their chains and ascending into the daylight. At first, they are shocked into a daze from the power of the sun, but with…

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