MARCH 23 - The Virtuous Life

The Virtuous Life

For ancient philosophers, a good life meant a virtuous life: for Plato, virtue was the state of harmony achieved in the tripartite soul; for Aristotle, virtue was both an end-goal of a life well-lived and for every constitutive action along the way, the exercise of prudence determining right action in the right way at the right time. For the stoics, four virtues stood above all others: wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance. The course is an invitation to think about virtue: what are virtues? What are the virtues of a good leader? What does it mean to practice specific virtues like wisdom or justice? How did these philosophers aspire to virtuous action and lives in the midst of pandemics, war, leadership crises, fear of death, loss, ugly rumors . . .  sound familiar? This class will meet over 4 sessions, 1.5 hours each, and will blend short presentations of philosophy with discussions. We will use the Zoom platform.

Recommended (not required) Reading:

Plato, Republic

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, trans. Gregory Hays, ISBN-10 : 9780812968255

Publisher : Modern Library; First American PB Edition (May 6, 2003)

Ryan Holliday, Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius, ISBN-13 : 978-0525541875, Publisher : Portfolio; Illustrated edition (September 29, 2020)

This workshop will meet Tuesdays 7:00-8:30, March 23 & 30, April 6 & 13, 7-8:30 pm CST.

Class size is limited to 60 students..

If you are a Humanities ND member this event is free. You can find the promo code in the Vault at humanitiesnd.org.

This class is taught by Tayo Basquiat. 

HND Value Statement

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this {article, book, exhibition, film, program, database, report, Web resource}, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or Humanities North Dakota.

However, in an increasingly polarized world, we at Humanities North Dakota believe that being open-minded is necessary to thinking critically and rationally.

Therefore, our programs and classes reflect our own open-mindedness in the inquiry, seeking, and acquiring of scholars to speak at our events and teach classes for our Public University.

To that end, we encourage our participants to join us in stepping outside our comfort zones and considering other perspectives and ideas by being open-minded while attending HND events featuring scholars who hold a variety of opinions, some being opposite of our own held beliefs.