How To Avoid Being Unhappy: Vices That Undermine Friendship & Flourishing | Prof. W. Scott Cleveland

The Thomistic Institute

Christianity, Society & Culture, Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Catholic, Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Thomism, Catholicism

4.8 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2019

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This lecture was given to the undergraduate chapter at the University of Virginia on 17 September 2019.

The handout for the lecture can be found here: tinyurl.com/yxg6f2ty

Dr. Cleveland received his B.A. in philosophy and biblical studies from Taylor University, his M.A.R. in philosophical theology & philosophy of religion from Yale Divinity School, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Baylor University (2014). Before coming to UMary, he conducted postdoctoral research at Saint Louis University on the virtue of intellectual humility.

His research interests are in ethics, moral psychology, and philosophy of religion. He is especially interested in the study of virtues and emotions, the relation between the two, and the role of each in the moral and intellectual life. For example, he has defended an account of the virtue of courage with focus on its emotional excellences (look here for some of his work). He also has broad interests in metaphysics, theology, the history of philosophy, and the thought of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas.

He loves discussing these subjects (and almost anything else) with students and is passionate about students coming to understand and appreciate the worth of philosophical understanding both for its own sake and for its contribution to a flourishing, fulfilling, and fruitful life that serves the common good.

For more information on this and other events go to thomisticinstitute.org/events-1

Transcript

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0:00.0	The title of the talk is how to avoid being unhappy, vices that undermine friendship and flourishing.
0:07.0	As you can tell from the title, the talk has a practical aim.
0:11.0	The aim is to help us learn how to avoid being unhappy.
0:15.0	That may seem a bit unambitious.
0:18.0	We shouldn't be satisfied with merely avoiding unhappiness, we won't
0:22.3	achieve happiness by backing into it or by chance, we should aim for happiness. This talk serves
0:28.1	this greater aim by targeting common obstacles to happiness. The focus of this talk will be obstacles
0:33.5	to happiness called vices. The avoidance of vices helps us to avoid unhappiness and pursue happiness.
0:42.3	Aristotle writes in the second book of his Nicomachian ethics that the purpose of his study
0:46.9	is to help his listeners or readers become good, and I hope this talk serves the same purpose.
0:56.0	To begin, I'm going to say some things about happiness and unhappiness. I'll then say what a vice is and how it may undermine
1:01.1	human flourishing with attention to its impact on friendship. I'll introduce a class of vices
1:08.1	that St. Thomas Aquinas, following a long line of Christian reflection called the capital vices, I'll introduce a class of vices that St. Thomas Aquinas, following a long line of Christian
1:11.7	reflection called the Capital Vices. I'll then turn to three specific capital vices that will
1:17.4	receive the bulk of this talk's attention. The substance of philosophical content of what
1:23.6	I'll say comes mainly from Aristotle and Aquinas. In particular, the central text underlying the bulk
1:29.6	of this talk as Aquinas' disputed questions on evil.
1:33.6	I've also benefited from scholars of Aquinas on vices,
1:36.5	especially Robert Kreshowitz and Rebecca Kanundike de Young,
1:40.0	whose short book I recommend called Glittering Vices,
1:43.2	which has provided me with many insights
1:44.6	into the vices and has served my students well as we've studied them together.
	...

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