A note on this observation:
<<
And the virtuous life has a
wonderfully circular definition. It is the life lived by a virtuous person,
one whose character and actions are the result of habitual right-desire.
>>
I believe that if one is going to talk about virtue in relation to the
classical Greek context, one must bear in mind that the Greek word used
instead of "virtue" was "arete", which is only loosely translatable as
virtue. Arete means excellence in striving for and performing the various
actions one is expected to aspire to in ones role in life, bordering on
heroism.
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/ARETE.HTM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arete_(excellence)
http://facstaff.elon.edu/sullivan/nevirtue.htm
http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/aristotle1.html
Arete does not map neatly to the concept of 'virtue' in the western society
with an intellectual history shaped by Chrsitan thought.
On face value, the concept of Arete is parallel to the Budhhist/Hindu/Yogic
concepts of Dharma and (under some interpretations) Brahmacarya. But Arete
in the classical Greek culture was reinforced by a 'shame culture' - if you
did not live up to the standards and ideals of Arete, society judged rather
harshly.
These themes have been taken up in Western popular culture in, amongst other
places, the philosophical novels "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
and "Lila" by Robert Pirsig.
Pirsig differentiated between static and dynamic experience, with dynamic
being the zenlike moment of oneness with the act of creation and static
being the patterns, artefacts and patterns produced in the wake of this
uplifted, dynamic transformative creative work. Which, of course, is where
this post comes back to having something to say about design, as design has
(as I see it) a 'dynamic', elevated engaged creative part, and 'static'
design products, outcomes from the design process both in terms of physical
artefacts and in terms of changed modes of thinking on the part of customers
(with new expectations and work patterns) and on the part of designer (who
may have learnt new techniques and perspectives they can carry forward to
new work).
I blogged on connecting some of these themes on my blog at
http://lauchlanmackinnon.blogspot.com/2007/03/zen-of-quality-quality-thinkin
g-for.html if anyone is interested.
Kind regards,
Lauchlan Mackinnon
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