Frank BreslinDeath, Afterlife, & Being MoralTeacher: Let’s say that you’re a high-school senior planning to go to college, but you learn from your doctor that you have only six months…1d ago1d ago
Frank BreslinA Sampling of Greek Ethical QuotationsThe Greek view of the ethical life, which greatly influenced Roman thinking, is an interesting contrast to that of the Bible’s. A different…2d ago2d ago
Frank Breslin20 Motives for Doing a Good Deed or Leading a Good LifeIn previous assignments, I had students begin thinking critically about three different moral theories. My purpose wasn’t to “sell” them on…2d ago2d ago
Frank BreslinMen both love and detest their faults.And then we have St. Paul, who wrote the book on self-contradiction — For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not…2d ago2d ago
Frank BreslinWho is a good man?Being good is measuring yourself against the time-honored ways of the ancients. They are the gold standard, the benchmark of excellence…2d ago2d ago
Frank BreslinWickedness fears the very shadows. Ipsas nequitia tenebras tenet.(Seneca, Moral Letters, 97. 12).Someone who has done something wrong is so terrified by conscience that he begins to suspect that the very shadows are harboring his…2d ago2d ago
Frank BreslinI count him as lost who has lost his shame.This and the following five quotations have to do with “shame” as the primary reason for not doing wrong. What would people think of me and…2d ago2d ago
Frank BreslinWhoever plots evil in his heart is already guilty of doing it.Evil lies in the intention, even though the deed itself hasn’t yet been done. This moral guilt isn’t the same as legal guilt, which judges…2d ago2d ago
Frank BreslinNo one becomes evil all of a sudden Nemo repente fuit turpissimus.(Juvenal, Satires, 2. 83).All too gradually we can begin to lose our moral compass and inch our way toward a point of no return, finding it impossible to turn back…2d ago2d ago