Aristotle on How to Live a Virtuous Life #62

One Year, Six Ways #1

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Welcome to the first post in our year-long philosophy experiment, where we will try out six different philosophies of life and see how they work out for us! I’m planning to send an email like this every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (7 am Pacific Time, if I got the time zones right) for the coming months. On Mondays, we’ll talk about the principles of each theory, on Wednesdays we’ll focus a bit more on the world of work, and on Fridays, we’ll prepare to apply philosophical insights to our weekend. There’s a discussion forum here, and I’d love to have your feedback on the whole project and to hear how you’re doing and whether you find this useful and fun.

These first two months, we will try to live according to the advice of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC). And we begin with the virtues. Read on!

Can I be too honest?

Aristotle’s view of life starts with the concept of virtues. Virtues are good properties of one’s character that are beneficial to oneself and to others. Think, for instance, of courage, honesty, or kindness.