Aristotelian ethics in Things Remembered

This is the first entry of a new book.

—begin description of book—

I was originally was going to make this book private (because I didn’t want to clutter your feeds) but I doubt I’ll write often enough in it for it to be a problem.

I felt I was at my best in the years immediately following college, when all of the philosophy, psychology, and lessons from English literature that I learned in college were fresh in my mind. It’s been almost 10 years since I graduated and I have forgotten nearly everything I learned. I really miss it. I have blank time available while sewing to listen to lectures and audiobooks so I decided to try to listen to academic programs rather than simply watching Hulu or Netflix. Hopefully I will continue to follow through with my new commitment.

This book will hold bullet-pointed things that I discover in my studies and want to note. This is for me and not for an audience, so I’ll be naming things rather than fully explaining or commenting on them. Future me can Google if confused.

–end of book description, begin first book entry—

On Aristotelian ethics and virtue (selected lectures below):

This is one of the few things I DO remember from college because it had such an impression on me. I love Aristotle’s concept of eudaimonia (crudely put: striving for true happiness through actively cultivating virtue in one’s life.) I think this is something I need to bring back to the forefront of my mind. Sometimes when I’m having a bad day, I convince myself I need to ‘rest’ and play Hearthstone or whatever, but the result after resting is rarely energy - infact, it is more of a desire/belief that I need rest. I think on the days I feel worst, it is going to be most important for me to turn on a stimulating lecture and start working. I love this lecturer’s emphasis on virtue through habit. The choices I make every day are likely the ones I will make tomorrow.

I also love the Aristotelian mean. How did I forget about that? My favorite tarot card is Temperence. It’s my desktop background right now and has been for months. My subconscious remembered your mean, Aristotle.

Where can I put this stuff up at my house to remember it all of the time? Why is my brain so trash? So many questions.

‘Doing my best for my dreams every day’, is a phrase from Love Live that I adore and have adopted in recent years. I think the sentiment, though, is one that I originally adopted through studying Aristotle. I’d forgotten. I think it’s one of the things Aaron and I have in common that has kept our friendship going for so long. We both are always hatching new plans to be better and actively trying to correct our faults.

I also think my dedication to this concept is one of my problems with Jason and especially with his friends - I believe in making myself the best that I can be, ACTIVELY, while Jason passively hopes for self-betterment but does nothing to take in his life in his hands and pursue it - he merely does what circumstance or other people push him to do. His friends are far worse. They are beyond pathetically mediocre and all seem completely content with their various situations. To me, that’s completely despicable. They can do what they want with their lives, of course (I’m not the virtue police for anyone but myself) but it is difficult for me to be around them so often. It makes me feel sad, and it makes me feel bad about myself. I want to be around people who are inspiring and like-minded....like all of my friends and family in CA.

Major takeaways:

Try to remember the Aristotelian mean in social situations. If your instinct is to be rude, don’t jump all of the way to fake and ingratiating to cover it. Find a middle ground. Make a lightly cynical joke with a smile.

Cultivate firm habits. If you start skipping writing on Sundays, you’ll continue skipping writing on Sundays. If you take a lazy sewing day, it will be easier to take another lazy day when you next consider it. When you are tempted to say, ‘Just for today…,’ remember that what you are actually doing is cultivating a habit of laziness rather than continuing your habit of industriousness.

You can’t treat people with disdain because they are garbage. Your quest for personal happiness through cultivation of virtue requires you to act appropriately regardless of the worth of the people you interact with.

(end of this lecture)

(and beginning of this lecture)

Last updated August 10, 2017