Virtues and Vices

1. Virtues and Vices The Sermon on the Mount—Jesus of Nazareth • Jesus rejects “an eye for an eye” morality and urges people to turn the other cheek. • The Sermon on the Mount departed dramatically from classic Greek virtues. • The parable of the Good Samaritan conflicted with the values of Jesus’ culture, which forbade helping one’s enemies.

2. Virtues and Vices Jealousy, Malice, and Ingratitude—Immanuel Kant • Men should not compare themselves with others but with the idea of perfection. • To desire the failure and unhappiness of another is to be envious. • A favor is a debt that can never be extinguished. • Ingratitude, envy, and malice are devilish because they imply a direct inclination to evil.

3. Virtues and Vices Jealousy, Malice, and Ingratitude—Immanuel Kant The proper way to be grateful to God is out of duty, not inclination or spontaneous feeling.

4. Virtues and Vices Moral Cowardice—Martin Gansberg A Powerful Comparison: The case of Kitty Genovese vs. The parable of the Good Samaritan

5. Virtues and Vices The Stoic Catechism—Epictetus and Others • The Stoics assert that it is not things that upset us—but ideas about things. • Epictetus declares that some things are up to us, and some are not up to us. • Epictetus insists that nothing in the world is intrinsically evil.

6. Virtues and Vices The Stoic Catechism—Epictetus and Others Stoic Words: • “If you don’t get what you desire, desire what you get.” • “Don’t seek for things to happen as you wish, but wish for things to happen as they do.” • “Mere living is not a good, but living well.”

7. Virtues and Vices The World of Epictetus—James Stockdale • Stockdale discovered that Epictetus was highly relevant to his experience as a POW. • Stockdale found inspiration in the Stoic principle “Lameness is an impediment to the body but not to the will.”