“I forgot my luggage,” I said. “Must have left it at the hotel.” The Russian cabbie didn’t care. He held his paw out for the cab fare as disgruntled tourists bustled past – luggage safely attached to whatever limb wasn’t brandishing a smartphone.  “Fifty,” the cabbie said. I handed it over.  “Another one,” he said. […]

Practical wisdom = action + reason + concern for what is good and bad for a human. Aristotle didn’t like the kind of philosophy that was just philosophising, theorising, thinking, pondering, and contemplating. Contemplation, of course, is needed in order to refine your ability to reason, but it must be bound up with action. You […]

Justice may be the most important of the virtues. It certainly seemed so to Aristotle whose time spent discussing it was disproportionate to the other virtues. Justice is also one of the hardest virtues to pin down. Abstract to the point of madness, and yet we all understand what I means to be just due […]

One of the many wonderful things about reading Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is you have a surprise around every corner. If you’re not already familiar with the commonly established virtues and vices, several of the virtues listed by Aristotle will surprise you. Temperance and courage make sense. And we expect generosity, good temper, and friendliness. But […]

What is truth? You know there are three sides to every story: Your side, my side, and the truth. There isn’t one objective truth. So when I ask you what is truth, I’m asking: What is your truth?  Do you lie to others? You might say you don’t, but is that a lie? One study […]

Most people aren’t in control of their emotions. They give in to rage on a daily basis. You only need to spend a little time cruising the roads and highways near where you live to see this. One who can, as Kipling said, keep their head while all around them are losing theirs, is held […]

Aristotle doesn’t linger too long on the virtue of ambition. In fact, he finds it hard to designate an actual word to what the virtue and vices are. This virtue comes down to having the right amounts and correct kind of ambition. Having too much ambition can be a vice. Similarly, having no ambition or […]

Pride is one of those virtues that is falsely positioned in the court of common opinion as a vice. We’ve all heard the saying ‘pride comes before the fall’ (which comes from the Bible’s ‘pride goeth before destruction’). But I put it to you, and Aristotle argues, that the “pride” most people disdain is not […]

Magnificence is one of those virtues that few people know about. Ask anyone to name a handful of virtues and even those who have no idea about Aristotle will likely say “truthfulness”, “courage”, and “generosity” pretty quickly. But magnificence? What the hell is that? And explaining this virtue to people often doesn’t make it any […]