🖼️ Monday Muse
The “Monday Muse” is a weekly collection of reminders, insights, and maxims on the art of living. The term “muse” has two meanings: (1) a state of deep thought; and (2) a source of inspiration. May the following (in a small way) be a source of contemplation and wisdom to live your highest good.
📌 Perennial Reminder(s)
The author and cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker on the importance of rationality:
Just as citizens should grasp the basics of history, science, and the written word, they should command the intellectual tools of sound reasoning. These include logic, critical thinking, probability, correlation, and causation, the optimal ways to adjust our beliefs and commit to decisions with uncertain evidence, and the yardsticks for making rational choices alone and with others. These tools of reasoning are indispensable in avoiding folly in our personal lives and public policies. They help us calibrate risky choices, evaluate dubious claims, understand baffling paradoxes, and gain insight into life’s vicissitudes and tragedies. […]
Source: Rationality
📜 Perennial Maxim(s)
The German novelist and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1832) on philosophy and the stages of life:
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💡 Perennial Insight(s)
The author and professor Ingrid Rossellini on Aristotle and moral excellence:
To define virtue and merit, the Greeks used the word arête. Arête described virtue as a potential quality that each individual had the duty to actualize. Arête involved the fulfillment of one’s telos, which meant the ultimate goal or purpose that was assigned to each by destiny. Aristotle, in his Ethics, affirmed that the purpose of a “good state” was to create an environment in which each individual could express his arête by becoming the best he could be and, in so doing, reach a state of excellence for the benefit of the city.
To achieve the full realization of the self, resilience and discipline were required. Comprehending virtue, Aristotle maintained, did not suffice. To become real, virtue had to be exercised repeatedly to the point of becoming second nature, just like a garment worn over and over until it fully became part of the self. […]
Source: Know Thyself
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Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W. Bertolotti
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