Tag: virtue

Girle reading Oxford English Dictionary in the flow of thought

The Flow of Thought, Part 1: Training the Attention for Happiness’ Sake

It may seem strange to look to modern psychology for support of classical education. After all, it’s the vagaries of modern thought that have got us into this educational trouble in the first place. The abandonment of tradition, the scientism and revolutionary overhaul of religion have all taken their toll on the proper training of our children. However, there’s always a diamond in the rough, a silver lining to every “sable cloud”. I recently found such a rare jewel in the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Besides being one of the best written books I’ve read,

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Plato and Aristotle in the Lyceum

Why Study Western Civilization?

The classical Christian movement has at its core a commitment to teaching Western civilization. Even though we teach Western civ, its distinctive qualities are not always clear. As a result, many educators (even within the classical movement) question why we would teach Western civilization. Here I will lay out what I think are the three key pillars of Western society. My hope is that with greater clarity about what Western civilization means, there will be deeper conviction to instruct our students to promote and defend its values. So what do we mean by Western civilization? Today we equate the “West”

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Aristotle close-up as famously portrayed by Raphael with arm stretched forward indicating his engagement in the human world of moral excellence, virtue and habits

Excellence Comes by Habit: Aristotle on Moral Virtue

All too often we are inclined to think of excellence as the product of good genes and good fortune rather than our personal habits. The fates bestow their blessings indiscriminately and haphazardly, and the talented and successful are the lucky recipients of excellence, while the rest of us are mired in mediocrity. Those who rise to the top, the outliers, as Malcolm Gladwell calls them, were born that way, or else became that way because of a combination of heredity, privileged upbringing and opportune circumstances. As we’ve mentioned before (Aristotle and the Growth Mindset), while the great philosopher Aristotle doesn’t

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bronze statue of Aristotle with pen

Aristotle and the Growth Mindset

Whether you’ve been involved in the world of education, sports, self-help or business, it’s likely that you’ve heard of Carol Dweck’s growth mindset. A Stanford University psychologist, Carol Dweck popularized her findings about how much success in any endeavor depends on a person’s mindset. In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, she explains that people who believe their talents and abilities are fixed tend to lose motivation when they experience challenges or setbacks, because they fear that failure will brand them as untalented or unintelligent. On the other hand, people who believe in the development of their intellect

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