North Belfast Employment Centre

A friend to all is a friend to none

admin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:43:09 +0000

Aristotle made several efforts to explain how moral conduct contributes to the good life for human agents, including the Eqikh EudaimonhV (Eudemian Ethics) and the Magna Moralia, but the most complete surviving statement of his views on morality occurs in the Eqikh Nikomacoi (Nicomachean Ethics).

There he considered the natural desire to achieve happiness, described the operation of human volition and moral deliberation, developed a theory of each virtue as the mean between vicious extremes, discussed the value of three kinds of friendship, and defended his conception of an ideal life of intellectual pursuit.

We’ve heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true. -Robert Wilensky

But on Aristotle’s view, the lives of individual human beings are invariably linked together in a social context. In the Peri PoliV (Politics) he speculated about the origins of the state, described and assessed the relative merits of various types of government, and listed the obligations of the individual citizen.

He may also have been the author of a model PoliteiaV Aqhnawn (Constitution of Athens), in which the abstract notion of constitutional government is applied to the concrete life of a particular society.

Sometimes, an image is just enough

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:39:37 +0000

Loose living and cheap women

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:12:54 +0000

A man who reeked of alcohol flopped on a subway seat next to a priest. The man’s tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half empty bottle of rum was sticking out of his ripped jacket pocket.
He opened his newspaper and started reading. After a few minutes, the disheveled guy turned to the priest and asked “Say, Father, do you know what causes arthritis?”

The priest, disgusted by the man’s appearance and behavior snapped “It’s caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, and a contempt for your fellow man!”
“Well, I’ll be,” the man muttered and returned to his newspaper.

The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized, “I’m sorry to have come on so strong - I didn’t mean it. How long have you been suffering from arthritis?”
“I don’t have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does.”