Matt D Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 Teach your kids their ABC's using philosophy! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirgall Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 Flexibility instead of Facts? Temporance instead of Truth? Optimism instead of Objectivity? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSchoolofAthens Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 This would certainly be a fun exercise with children! I can imagine starting off with what the words mean, then going back and forth between times when we did or didn't follow these virtues, and also think about theoretical situations. Something to do when I have kids. (a long way down the road) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neeeel Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 It would also be important to teach them WHY these are virtues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susana Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted May 8, 2015 Author Share Posted May 8, 2015 Flexibility instead of Facts? Temporance instead of Truth? Optimism instead of Objectivity? I wanted to emphasize actionable philosophy. Those things are important but they aren't virtues I can have as a person. The closest might be 'consistency' with truth, objectivity and facts. This would certainly be a fun exercise with children! I can imagine starting off with what the words mean, then going back and forth between times when we did or didn't follow these virtues, and also think about theoretical situations. Something to do when I have kids. (a long way down the road) Absolutely. I think it would be cool to hang as a poster as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribuck Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Nice poster, Matthew. How come you copyrighted it? Is virtue too precious to be copied? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRobin Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Nice poster, Matthew. How come you copyrighted it? Is virtue too precious to be copied? You don't "copyright" things, you automatically have a copyright on anything you create, regardless of whether you want to or not. (or at least in 99.9% of countries) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirgall Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Factual, Truthful, and Objective then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. D. Stembal Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 I am humbled by how few letters of the virtue alphabet I know well. I've got a lot of ground to cover! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted May 10, 2015 Author Share Posted May 10, 2015 Nice poster, Matthew. How come you copyrighted it? Is virtue too precious to be copied? It's just a habit. You can copy it if you'd like - I promise not to sue you I am humbled by how few letters of the virtue alphabet I know well. I've got a lot of ground to cover! Stef: "Today's call-in show is brought to you by the letter D. The letter D stands for... donate!" 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribuck Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 You can copy it if you'd like Thanks, Matt. For your next edition you could consider changing the spelling of "T" to the more standard "temperance". ...you automatically have a copyright on anything you create, regardless of whether you want to or not... I realise that, Robin. But you don't automatically get a copyright notice on anything you create, and you are always free to write "Copy Freely" on a work instead. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted May 13, 2015 Author Share Posted May 13, 2015 Thanks, Matt. For your next edition you could consider changing the spelling of "T" to the more standard "temperance". I realise that, Robin. But you don't automatically get a copyright notice on anything you create, and you are always free to write "Copy Freely" on a work instead. Thanks for the correction. Yes, I've seen some books which have replaced "copyright" with "Please copy away!" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapdragon Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 c 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribuck Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Xenial is good, except that it's an adjective rather than an abstract noun. Xeniality would do though. But really, there's no central authority forcing an author to include every letter of the English alphabet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapdragon Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelafina Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Is there a logical test to determine whether an action is virtuous or not? Or are virtuous acts dependent on individual preference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirgall Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 I'm glad no one suggested Xena-philia. I probably should have included a trigger warning with that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merrifield Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Nice poster Matt. I sent it to my son and it spurred a discussion between us. He said "You can tell it was made by someone who is not religious because they left out faith." And that "Faith is an important virtue even if it is not faith in God" I've always associated faith with religion and quickly realized that I may be resisting or diminishing it somehow as a result. I've often thought of it as weakness. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribuck Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I've always associated faith with religion... As a child, I'm sure you had faith that your mother wasn't going to poison your breakfast each morning. And faith that the bus driver was going to go take you where the destination sign said. So I don't think faith is necessarily associated with religion. It's just that faith is not particularly useful beyond childhood, except for religion. Consider the following illustration from the book "Anti-Fragile": Every day the butcher comes to feed the Thanksgiving turkey. The turkey develops a faith that the butcher will always come to care for him. And with every passing day that faith is rewarded and strengthened. The turkey develops an unshakeable faith that the butcher will never do him harm. Until Thanksgiving approaches... Anyway, "Flexibility" is fine for F's virtue. I would probably have chosen "Friendship". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merrifield Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I have faith in things based on facts. Faith my house will be there when I get home. Faith in my dog to protect the chickens. These are based on things staying the same, while I know all the while that things can and do change. The house can burn down. The dog may run off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelafina Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Is there a logical test to determine whether an action is virtuous or not? Or are virtuous acts dependent on individual preference? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 eXploration? really? xenial. i'll let you look it up. Snapdragon, great suggestion! Xenial slipped by me but it's true I would need a noun to be consistent (which is a virtue, don't you know...) Urban dictionary defines xeniality as "a fetishistic fascination in sexual activity with people from another planet." Hmmm. Nice poster Matt. I sent it to my son and it spurred a discussion between us. He said "You can tell it was made by someone who is not religious because they left out faith." And that "Faith is an important virtue even if it is not faith in God" I've always associated faith with religion and quickly realized that I may be resisting or diminishing it somehow as a result. I've often thought of it as weakness. Thoughts? Interesting conversation, Merri. Yeah, it's terrible the degree to which religion has corrupted the word 'faith'. It's the same thing that statists did to the word 'anarchy'. You can call me naive, point out all the evil in the world, but despite all this I have what might be called an eternal faith in humanity. For the sake of this poster, I settled for "Optimism" instead. Is there a logical test to determine whether an action is virtuous or not? Or are virtuous acts dependent on individual preference? First of all, it depends on the context. This alphabet can feel like a modern equivalent of the Ten Commandments, but I want to stress that HONESTY is not virtue in every situation, nor is EMPATHY or VALOR. If someone asks you where your wife is so he can go kill her, you aren't immoral if you lie to him! Perhaps the one exception to that rule would be WISDOM because wisdom implies the evaluation of circumstance and virtuous action thereon. To answer your second question, I'm going to be annoying and refer you to Stef's Universally Preferable Behavior. Most of these would be considered 'Ascetically Preferable Actions', which means they're somewhere between completely objective and completely subjective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapdragon Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 y Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 i prefer merrium webster. and as pointed out before xenial can be converted to the noun xeniality to stay consistent with your other "virtues". I haven't seen a dictionary definition which recognizes the noun form as a word. I don't want to nitpick but if I write 'xeniality' I really don't want kids to start probing into about alien anal probing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapdragon Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 o 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribuck Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I haven't seen a dictionary definition which recognizes the noun form as a word. I don't want to nitpick but if I write 'xeniality' I really don't want kids to start probing into about alien anal probing. You could invent a new word to meet your need! For example, "xenialness" or "xeniability". Or, we could edit Wiktionary and other user-maintained dictionaries to add the non-alien meaning of Xeniality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 You could invent a new word to meet your need! For example, "xenialness" or "xeniability". Or, we could edit Wiktionary and other user-maintained dictionaries to add the non-alien meaning of Xeniality. If I was to do a second version I would probably change all 26 letters to an adjective just to solve the pesky X. Right now I just don't have the time so it will have to wait. Thanks everyone for your feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirgall Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 If I was to do a second version I would probably change all 26 letters to an adjective just to solve the pesky X. Can't do that, adjectives aren't arguments! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. D. Stembal Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 How about xenophilia? an attraction to foreign peoples, cultures, or customs. 1.noun Yes, I know it can have a sexual connotation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannahbanana Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Factual, Truthful, and Objective then. Aren't those all very similar words though? If you are objective, truthful and factual would also be covered because truth and facts are both objective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirgall Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Aren't those all very similar words though? If you are objective, truthful and factual would also be covered because truth and facts are both objective. Well, there are subtle differences, I just felt those were more virtuous words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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