Showing posts with label Prudence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prudence. Show all posts

Thursday, July 9, 2009

An affable temper and loftiness of spirit

Cicero, On Duties, Book I, p.35
...We should not listen to those who think we should be deeply angry with our opponents, and consider that this is what a great-spirited and courageous man does. For nothing is more to be praised, nothing more worthy of a great and splendid man than to be easily appeased and forgiving.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The diseases of the soul...

Foucault, The Care of the Self, p.58:
And the establishment of the relationship to oneself as a sick individual is all the more necessary because the diseases of the soul - unlike those of the body - do not announce themselves by the suffering that one perceives; not only can they go undetected for a long time, but they blind those whom they afflict...

The insidious thing about the diseases of the soul is that they pass unnoticed, or even that one can mistake them for virtues (anger for courage, amorous passion for friendship, envy for emulation, cowardice for prudence).

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Duties are broadly defined by social roles...

Epictetus, Enchiridion, Chapter 30:
...keep up your side of the relationship; don't concern yourself with his behavior, only with what you must do to keep your will in tune with nature. Another person will not hurt you without your cooperation; you are hurt the moment you believe yourself to be...give social relationships their due in your daily deliberations.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Prudence

Which words are used to describe the virtue of prudence?

Seneca: moral insight (Letters from a Stoic, XC)

Marcus Aurelius: gravity, seriousness, high-mindedness (Meditations, Book 5, 5)

No one could ever accuse you of being quick-witted.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book Five, 5:
No one could ever accuse you of being quick-witted.
Alright, but there are plenty of other things you can't claim you "haven't got in you." Practice the virtues you can show: honesty, gravity, endurance, austerity, resignation, abstinence, patience, sincerity, moderation, seriousness, high-mindedness.