Philosophy Workshop: What is Virtue? (More than just ethics!)
January 23, 2025 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
What We’ll Explore
The notion of virtue holds a central place in classical theories of what it means to live a good life. Indeed, the Greek term for virtue, aretē, simply means “excellence,” and who would seriously want to say, “No, my life would be good enough — or even better — without being excellent”?
The classical philosophers of Greece mentioned quite a few different virtues, or excellences, for human beings — some of which applied to all humans, while others were relative to specific occupations or circumstances (for instance, the virtues of an excellent doctor or an excellent carpenter, which people outside those professions might not need or care about). Among the virtues common to all human beings, four core excellences traditionally stood out: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation.
In this evening’s program, we’ll reflect on “virtue” in general, and these four cardinal virtues in particular, within traditional philosophies of human life. And we’ll examine how these virtues can extend well beyond the narrow domain of ethics, to encompass a much wider scope of our human aspirations and relationships. Taking a cue from Damascius (6th century CE), the last head of the Platonic Academy in Athens, we’ll consider no less than seven different levels on which the virtues of wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation can manifest in a well-lived human life — only one of which is the “ethical.”
Given the wide scope of the evening’s topic, we will certainly not arrive at a full account of all the details. But if we do our work well, we should begin to see the general shape of things: an outline which we can explore further and work to fill in through subsequent reading, study, and contemplation. Our goal for the night will be to articulate this general vision, as something potentially worthwhile and inspiring, something worth doing the work to explore, fill in, and embody.
We’ll use some short extracts from the writings of Damascius and other ancient thinkers to frame and organize our conversation, opening up a space in which we can meaningfully and deeply explore an approach to virtue that’s much more expansive than what we often encounter in contemporary life.
When
Thursday, January 23rd from 6:30pm-8:30pm
Where
Reeder’s Alley Conference Center (101 Reeder’s Alley, Helena MT 59601)
RSVP
Cost
FREE (Donations appreciated)
Discussion Leader
David Nowakowski is a philosopher and educator in the Helena area whose professional work is dedicated to helping people of all ages and backgrounds access, understand, and apply the traditions of ancient philosophy to their own lives. David began studying ancient philosophies and classical languages in 2001 and has continued ever since. A scholar of the philosophical traditions of the ancient Mediterranean (Greece, Rome, and North Africa) and of the Indian subcontinent, reading Sanskrit, Latin, and classical Greek, he earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 2014. His work has appeared in a variety of scholarly journals, including Philosophy East & West, Asian Philosophy, and the Journal of Indian Philosophy, as well as in presentations to academic audiences at Harvard, Columbia University, the University of Toronto, Yale-NUS College in Singapore, and elsewhere.
After half a decade teaching at liberal arts colleges in the northeast, David chose to leave the academy in order to focus his energies on the transformative value of these ancient philosophical and spiritual traditions in his own life and practice, and on building new systems of education and community learning that will make this rich heritage alive and available to others.
A hermit by nature and by committed choice, he balances contemplative solitude with his active work in teaching, counseling, and the healing arts. David can be reached at [email protected] or via his personal website.
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