Virtue

March 14, 2019

Huckleberry Finn’s moral conscience

Few authors could spin words as well as Mark Twain, but the image of the chronicler of the Mississippi is perhaps one more of style and storytelling than of depth. We don’t read Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn and expect to find great moral insights or penetrating philosophy. Continue Reading...

March 08, 2019

Who’s the true good samaritan?

Mike Weirsky, an unemployed New Jersey man, just won $273 million in the Mega Millions lottery. According to one headline he “has a Good Samaritan to thank.” Weirsky left his tickets at the store where he bought them, but someone found them and gave them to the cashier. Continue Reading...

March 04, 2019

How to talk and listen towards a free and virtuous society

Reading Dylan Pahman’s recent piece, Don’t write off young ‘socialists’, got me thinking about talking and listening. We all talk and listen, with varying degrees of success, every day. Most of the time I do each well enough to muddle through learning something from others while imparting some sliver of wisdom in between boisterous declarations of my opinions and preferences. Continue Reading...

March 01, 2019

Pope Francis: Pray before giving

In a private audience Francis had yesterday with St. Peter’s Circle, a social action group serving Rome’s poor since 1869, the pope gave some excellent advice. He said that it is best for them to pray hard prior to administering charity to those in need. Continue Reading...

February 27, 2019

Charlie Menditéguy: Golf and virtue

Now that I am full-time at the Acton Institute (I had been associated since the beginning, but on the governing board) I am trying to read most of its output. Not an easy task giving the numerous books, articles, academic papers and blog posts it publishes each year. Continue Reading...

February 26, 2019

Work as a religion: The problem with ‘workism’ and its critics

If you’re a young person in America, you’ve undoubtedly been bombarded by calls to “follow your passion,” “pursue your dreams,” or “do what you love and love what you do.” Such slogans have led many toward a renewed appreciation of the meaning that can be found in mundane economic activity—and in many ways, rightly so. Continue Reading...

February 12, 2019

How Ethiopia’s churches are reviving forests and restoring biodiversity

During Ethiopia’s bout of communism in the 1970s and 1980s, the government nationalized the land and converted much of it for agriculture, leaving only 5% of the country’s forests—a 45% decrease from the beginning of the century. Continue Reading...

February 12, 2019

Democrats support Green New Deal while Thomas Piketty finds it problematic

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey’s proposed Green New Deal is getting a lot of attention these days. Democratic Presidential hopefuls Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren are all supporters, as is Senator Bernie Sanders. Continue Reading...

January 31, 2019

Redemptive entrepreneurship: In a globalized economy, who is our neighbor?

In our globalized and interconnected world, we inhabit vast networks of creative exchange with widely dispersed neighbors. This leads to real and thriving communities far and wide—a great and mysterious collaboration. Continue Reading...

January 30, 2019

Social science and the evidence for virtue

“Christians have nothing to fear and everything to gain from good social science,” says Paul D. Miller. “It provides a way to talk normatively about human flourishing in terms that are intelligible, legitimate, and persuasive to those outside the community of faith.” Continue Reading...

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