December 15, 2009
- Francesco Petrarca on the Emotions of Morality -
“For it is one thing to know, and another to love; one thing to understand, and another to will. I don’t deny that [Aristotle] teaches us the nature of virtue. But reading him offers us none of those exhortations, or only a very few, that goad and inflame our minds to love virtue and hate vice […] What good is there in knowing what virtue is, if this knowledge doesn’t make us love it? What point is there in knowing vice, if this knowledge doesn’t make us shun it? By heaven, if the will is corrupt, an idle and irresolute mind will take the wrong path when it discovers the difficulty of the virtues and the alluring ease of the vices.”
- Francesco Petrarca: De sui ipsius et multorum aliorum ignorantia
Very cool also.
Comment by speedbird — December 15, 2009 @ 12:03 pm
Which is why law is inherently flawed, it’s making a science of morality, completely disemboweling the heart of morality. If a heart can be said to be disemboweled…
But that is not to say that anarchy is a better option.
Comment by Ian — December 15, 2009 @ 12:11 pm