{"id":1171,"date":"2009-06-28T21:05:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-28T21:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2009-06-28T21:05:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-28T21:05:00","slug":"review-the-other-side-of-virtue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1171","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Other Side of Virtue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Followers of the major monotheistic religions occasionally trot out the idea that only their traditions offer true ethical systems, while presumably everyone else is devoted to thievery, murder, incest, cannibalism, and failure to pay parking tickets.<\/p>\n

Such an attitude is unhistorical, of course. Socrates<\/a>, Confucius<\/a>, Epictetus<\/a> . . any pre- or non-Abrahamic figure might as well have never lived, you would think.<\/p>\n

Hence I have been reading and enjoying Brendan Myers’ The Other Side of Virtue<\/a>\"\"<\/em>, which while admitting that “some values really are ‘out there,’ beyond the self and are not a matter of personal opinions and preferences,” approaches the topic in a “poly” way, not relying on one man’s claimed revelation but on a wide variety of ancestral teaching, poetry, philosophy, and tradition.<\/p>\n

In an easy-going historical exposition, Myers lays out how for Heroic societies (which still live in our own) “the chief virtue was Honour, the quality for which you earn the respect of your peers.” He continues, “To writers in the classical age, and the Renaissance, the chief virtue was Reason. For Romantic writers, it seems to be the sincerity of one’s passion and the beauty of one’s creative work.”<\/p>\n

Although it covers ideas and thinkers both ancient and modern, what places Myers’ work firmly in the Western Pagan tradition comes at the end, when he reminds us of the importance of free choice in living the good or virtuous life:<\/p>\n

The creation of <\/span>eudaimonia<\/a>, the good and beautiful destiny, begins when you declare that your life<\/span> shall be meaningful and worthwhile. It begins in the pursuit of a life that could stand as a model for others, and perhaps<\/span> ought to be remembered by future generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is hard to do justice to The Other Side of Virtue<\/span> in a blog post. Perhaps my one quibble is with Myers’ creation of what I think is a false dichotomy between “cold duty” and “beauty.” In that dichotomy his writing resembles Emma Restall Orr’s<\/a>, which is unfortunate. He rather slights the (later Roman) Stoic school<\/a> of philosophy with its emphasis on civic life, although not as thoroughly as she does.<\/p>\n

If I say, “Honor the gods and do your duty,” I can interpret “duty” broadly and flexibly, not militaristically. There is the duty of a student (to study), the duty of a parent, the duty of a citizen, and so on.<\/p>\n

But that is a minor quibble, for I see much to admire in The Other Side of Virtue<\/a>\"\"<\/em> and urge you to buy and read it. It is a pity that the book lacks an index, however.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Followers of the major monotheistic religions occasionally trot out the idea that only their traditions offer true ethical systems, while presumably everyone else is devoted to thievery, murder, incest, cannibalism, and failure to pay parking tickets. Such an attitude is unhistorical, of course. Socrates, Confucius, Epictetus . . any pre- or non-Abrahamic figure might as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-paganism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-iT","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2697,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2697","url_meta":{"origin":1171,"position":0},"title":"Wikipedia and the Pagan Academics","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Last weekend Cara Schulz wrote a piece on the trouble some Pagan writers were having with Wikipedia. It started when people noticed some Pagan-related entries, such as \"Paganistan\" being flagged for deletion. Much editorial chat ensued. Brendan Cathbad Myers, author of The Other Side of Virtue and other books, saw\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1220,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1220","url_meta":{"origin":1171,"position":1},"title":"It’s Time to Critique "Personal Growth"","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Jason Pitzl-Waters offers more links on the Sedona sweat-lodge deaths, including to the Beyond Growth blog, which has been critiquing James Arthur Ray for some time.(Related: I want to read Barbara Ehrenreich's newest, Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.)I sometimes wonder at the whole concept\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chascli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0805087494","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9017,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9017","url_meta":{"origin":1171,"position":2},"title":"On Michael Harner (1929\u20132018)","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The news of Michael Harner's passing has been going around, and of course some magical practitioners have to react by disrespecting him. You might well have heard the usual string of insults: he is an academic poser, he's a fake . . . a cultural imperialist . . . from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"shamanism\"","block_context":{"text":"shamanism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=shamanism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/michael_drum.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":473,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=473","url_meta":{"origin":1171,"position":3},"title":"Hogwarts versus Cherry HillBeliefNet offers\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 22, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Hogwarts versus Cherry HillBeliefNet offers a side-by-side comparison of a certain wizard's school versus real-life Pagan seminaries.Click the graphic on the sidebar for more of the wacky world of BeliefNet's religion blogs.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6566,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6566","url_meta":{"origin":1171,"position":4},"title":"How the Neighborhood Has Changed","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Hardscrabble Creek is a real place, and every now and then, I like to post a photo or two from home. I found the first photo while researching something else, and I took the second one today. In both of these photos, Hardscrabble Creek runs behind the buildings farthest from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"greenwood_road_1887","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/greenwood_road_1887-300x245.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2008,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2008","url_meta":{"origin":1171,"position":5},"title":"‘The World Ain’t Run by No Magical Forces’","author":"Chas S. 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