Maggie:  Do you think work is important to living a happy life? John:  Good question.  But before I answer it I think we need to clarify what you mean by the word “work.” Maggie:  I mean something like having a job.  The thing most of us have to do to make money, like being a … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): On the Role of Work

John: If you recall, we are responding to your comment that you feel stupid lately. Maggie: Yes, I remember.  And this is the third and last blog post in this series, addressing my statement. John:  And here we will be addressing how you arrived at your conclusion by looking at your reasoning processes. Maggie: Okay.  Where do you … Continue reading Maggie and Me (A Philosophical Dialogue): Judging Ourselves and Feeling Stupid

Maggie:  We need to continue our discussion about intelligence and feeling stupid.  If you recall, we initially concluded that intelligence is a good-for-other-things.  That means that it is not a good-in-itself, but is used to obtain other good things. John:  I remember.  And nice summary! Maggie:  Next, we were going to address the idea that … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): On the Different Types of Knowing

Maggie: I feel so stupid all the time lately. Sometimes I don’t understand what is going on in class, so I just pretend I do. Sometimes I don’t understand the books I read or listen to, so I just skim over those sections. Sometimes I don’t even understand things my friends say, so I just … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): I Feel So Stupid All the Time

Maggie: I need to talk about something that makes me feel guilty.  John: Sure.  Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you. Maggie:  Two of my friends said horrible things about another girl at our school.  This girl’s family doesn’t have a lot of money so she wears the same clothes almost every day.  I was … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): On Courage

Maggie: My friend’s mom asked her why she wasn’t a better aunt to her young niece.  My friend thought too much time had passed for her to now get involved in her niece’s life.  And she didn’t think her niece even wanted a friendship at this point, since she doesn’t really know her.  Do you … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): Is It Ever too Late to Be a Friend?

Maggie: We discussed different types of loneliness in the first blog post on this topic, and in the second post we discussed the fact that many young people do not have the right people in their lives or the right contexts in which to share their feelings and thoughts. In this post, I think we … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): On Loneliness, part 3

Maggie:  I have been thinking a lot about our previous discussion on the different categories of loneliness.  I can’t get that conversation out of my head. John:  What have you been thinking about the most? Maggie:  All of us are really two people.  Two different people. John:  I think I know where you are going … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): On Loneliness, part 2

Maggie:  I would like to spend some time talking about loneliness. John:  I think this is a good topic, and fits perfectly into our discussion of happiness.  But why do you want to discuss it? Maggie:  I heard a girl at school telling a teacher that she was so lonely she was thinking about dropping … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): On Loneliness, part 1

Maggie: You said previously that you try to work on one virtue each year. What are you working on this year? John: The virtue of forgiveness. Maggie: How is it going? John: It could be going better. This is a challenging virtue. Maggie: I am actually glad to hear you say that. I find working … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): On the Virtue of Forgiveness

Maggie: Can we talk about something that has been on my mind for a while? John:   Sure. This is your blog too. So we can talk about anything that interests you, as long as it somehow relates to philosophy or religion. Maggie: This does. But I am not sure how to say it. John: We … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): “I hate church and I don’t want to go any more!”

Maggie: A friend of mine, whose name is also Maggie, asked me about modesty. She wanted to know whether modesty is a real virtue or whether it is just a tool parents use to control their kids. Can we discuss this question? John:   Sure. I think this is an important topic. Maggie: Do you think … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): the Virtue of Modesty

  Maggie: One of my friends asked me what she should do to become more patient. John: The first step in the process of developing a virtue is asking questions about yourself, especially your strengths and weaknesses in relation to that virtue. So we can’t really help your friend, since she is not here to … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): Developing Gratitude

Maggie: What do you think is the principal challenge to happiness? And I am especially interested in your answer as it applies to me and my friends, not to old people in their thirties. John: Wow, I am not sure what to do with that last part. But the question itself is thought provoking. Maggie: … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): The Principal Challenge to Happiness

  John: In the past three blog posts we have been discussing why we should be good people, rather than bad people. We concluded early on that we should be good because being good leads to happiness. We then defined happiness as (i) an activity, (ii) of the soul, (iii) in accordance with complete virtue, … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): The Happiness Question, part 4

Maggie: In the last blog post we talked about the need for external goods to be happy. Some of my friends asked me about this, especially because you said we only need a few material possessions to be happy. But this is exactly the opposite of the way most people live their lives. Most people … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): The Happiness Question, part 3 continued

John: If you recall our September 2017 and October 2017 blog posts, we were discussing why we should be good people, rather than bad people. Maggie: Yes, I remember. In order to answer that question, we first asked the question “What is it that people want most in life?” We decided that thing is happiness. … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): The Happiness Question, part 3

John: If you recall our September 2017 blog post, we were discussing why we should be good people, rather than bad people. Maggie: Yes, I remember. We decided that the thing people want most in life is to be happy. And we left off with your suggestion that a person’s happiness depends upon whether or … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): The Happiness Question, part 2

Maggie: Why should I try to be good? Why should I try to be virtuous? When I look around I see people having great success who are neither good nor virtuous, and some who are just out and out bad. John: This is a wonderful question and one that philosophers have been wrestling with for … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): The Happiness Question, part 1

Maggie: Is there anything wrong with wanting my friends to like me for who I am? John: H’m… It is easy to say that people should like us for who we are, and we see this sentiment being expressed on social media with more and more frequency. But your question is actually quite complicated and … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): Should our friends like us for who we are?

Maggie: A lot of kids my age don’t really like themselves. Do you think we need to like ourselves before we can have good friends? John: It makes me a little sad to hear you ask this question. Being a young adult can be difficult at times. We need to talk more about the challenges … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): Learning to Like Ourselves Helps Us Make Friends

Maggie: You have talked a lot about friendship, but do we really need friends to be happy? John: Yes, I think so. We are, after all, naturally political animals, which means we naturally seek relationships with other people. As political beings, friends are important for three reasons: (i) friends are our greatest external good; (ii) … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): Do we really need friends?

Maggie: You previously said that friends can help me develop virtues, that they can help me become good. Can you explain this? John:  Wow, this is actually a very big question. To best answer it I need to unpack it into smaller more discrete issues. Afterwards, we will bring all the new information together into … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): Three different types of friendships

Maggie: We discussed the definition of a virtue, but how do I develop a virtue? How do I become a good person? John:  I love the fact that you are asking such excellent questions. Never stop doing that. Asking questions is the first step towards gaining wisdom. Also, it is important to remember that you … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): How do I develop a virtue?

Question: You said that being good is more about having virtues (good character) than about following rules. I like that because it gets rid of some of the pressure I feel trying to follow all the rules. But what is a virtue? Answer: That is a very good question. The best answer is given by … Continue reading Maggie and Me (a philosophical dialogue): What is a virtue?