17 MAY 2017 by ideonexus
Success as Proof of Virtue
Ivanka contrasts “proactive” people, who are “passionate and productive,” with “negative people,” those who are “swayed by the external and are frequently the victim of circumstance.” Her worldview, it turns out, is not so different from her father’s. Both see society through the lens of quasi-mystical corporate self-help, the sort pioneered by Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking and a major influence on Donald Trump. In their schema, success is pr... 1 
notes
notes21 APR 2014 by ideonexus
Childlike Curiosity is a Virtue
As a species, humans manifest a quality called neoteny, the retention of juvenile characteristics into adulthood. Neoteny has physical ramifications—scarce body hair and a flat face are two examples—but it also has neurological ones. Namely, we have an extraordinary capacity to continue learning throughout life.
If neoteny helps to explain our ability to learn, researchers are now figuring out what drives us to take advantage of it. In 2008, a group of scientists set up a novel fMRI stu...
2 An neotenatal evolutionary adaptation that allows us lifelong learning.
03 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
The Success of Science
One of the reasons for its success is that science has
built-in, self-correcting machinery at its very heart. It takes
account of human fallibility. One of its commandments is,
"Mistrust arguments from authority." Too many such arguments
have turned out to be painfully wrong. Authorities must prove
their contentions like anybody else. This independence of
science, its unwillingness to pay automatic obeisance to
conventional wisdom, makes it dangerous to doctrines less self-
critical. ... 1 notes
notesComes from its built-in self-criticism, its proven results, and the reverence and awe it inspires.
24 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Florence Nightingale Worshiped Quantification
[Of her] Her statistics were more than a study, they were indeed her religion. For her Quetelet was the hero as scientist, and the presentation copy of his Physique sociale is annotated by her on every page. Florence Nightingale believed—and in all the actions of her life acted upon that belief—that the administrator could only be successful if he were guided by statistical knowledge. The legislator—to say nothing of the politiciantoo often failed for want of this knowledge. Nay, she we...Folksonomies: virtue quantification
Folksonomies: virtue quantification
Described here as being virtuously dedicated to statistics and measurement in medicine.
24 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Hippocratic Oath
I swear by Apollo the physician, by Asclepius, by Heahh, by Panacea and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture. To hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture; to impart...The original.
22 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
The Three Principal Means of Investigation
We have three principal means: observation of nature, reflection, and experiment. Observation gathers the facts, reflection combines them, experiment verifies the result of the combination. It is essential that the observation of nature be assiduous, that reflection be profound, and that experimentation be exact. Rarely does one see these abilities in combination. And so, creative geniuses are not common. 1 notes
notesEach is a virtue, and strength in all three is rare.
21 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Science Makes Scientists Virtuous
Part of the strength of science is that it has tended to attract individuals who love knowledge and the creation of it. Just as important to the integrity of science have been the unwritten rules of the game. These provide recognition and approbation for work which is imaginative and accurate, and apathy or criticism for the trivial or inaccurate .... Thus, it is the communication process which is at the core of the vitality and integrity of science .... The system of rewards and punishments ... 1 notes
notesThe nature of the art forces its practitioners to behave ethically or attracts the intellectually-minded.
02 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
The Silver Rule
己所不欲，勿施於人。
"What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others."
子貢問曰：“有一言而可以終身行之者乎”？子曰：“其恕乎！己所不欲、勿施於人。”
Zi Gong [a disciple] asked: "Is there any one word that could guide a person throughout life?"
The Master replied: "How about 'reciprocity'! Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself." 1 notes
notesInverse of the golden rule, "Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you."
30 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Truth is the Singular Focus of the Scientist
The Man of Science ought not to look at, or respect, any thing but the discovery and propagation of truth. Instead of respecting mischievous and erroneous establishments, he, of all men, is bound, by every honourable tie, to make an exposure of them, and to teach the people right from wrong. His knowledge and discoveries should be like the benefits of Nature dispensed alike to all without price or reward. He ought to be the patron of truth, and the enemy of error, in whatever shape it might a...It should be the highest virtue.
08 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
Desire to Know
Desire to Know.
I refer to Curiosity — curiosity rationalized into Desire to Know.
Desire to Know, while equally urgent for gratification, inherently lacks the undesirable and inappropriate qualities which render the other human Instincts unsuitable as organizing and strain equalizing factors in the social structure. Also it possesses qualities and attributes which make it peculiarly adapted to perform the rationally harmonizing function so irrationally assumed in all earlier social org... 1 notes
notesA complex virtue, this passage presents it ambivalently.
