Category: ethics

• July 31, 2012

  Bewilderment and the art of inquiry

  For the foreseeable future, the focus of my philosophical practice and my work with organizations will be on the art of inquiry. One aim of the art of inquiry is to lead the inquirer into a state of mental confusion (aporia) or bewilderment. The bewilderment implies that the inquirer can no longer say for sure…
• July 30, 2012

  From Boston to New York

  On the bus ride home from Boston, I was seated across the aisle from a man who was illustrative of the complexity of this human, all too human ethical life. He let one woman have the window seat. Some women spilled cookie crumbs on him and he reacted calmly. Throughout the ride, he spoke on…
• July 16, 2012

  What makes it impossible to become a beautiful soul

  Let’s suppose we spend our days exercising many of the virtues. They may include  fidelity, courage, patience, and so on. I am curious how it is that the prominence of one salient vice such as arrogance can throw a person’s demeanor into disharmony and thereby make it impossible for him to become a beautiful soul.…
• July 14, 2012

  In praise of the open-ended conversation

  The open-ended conversation is not a philosophical conversation, but yet it serves an important purpose. Based in dialogue, it implies that both speakers are equals. Being open-ended, it implies that there is no set agenda, no explicit attempt to use another as a means for one’s ends, and no explicit expectations concerning what is to…
• July 13, 2012

  Summary of a good inquiry concerning the rarity of good female friendships

  In my philosophy practice, I have been thinking lately about what stays with my conversation partners after I have left the scene. I know that I will not always be there for them, that I will die someday, and I want to make sure that they will flourish without me. What stays, therefore, with them?…