Albrecht Dürer's Hercules at the Crossroads (1498): Hercules and Virtue on the right attack Vice who reclines with a satyr on the left.
Hercules at the crossroads, also known as the Choice of Hercules and the Judgement of Hercules, is an ancient Greek parable attributed to Prodicus and known from Xenophon. It concerns the young Heracles/Hercules who is offered a choice between Vice and Virtue—a life of pleasure or one of hardship and honour. #prodicus#vice#virtue#hercules#greekmythology
Saw the #libertarian trope again today, that Government should not intervene to "do good", because #virtue can only arise when freely chosen, not when compelled (for example by the State.) Often expressed as a quote from Frank #Meyer (https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/know-your-enemy-frank-meyer-the-father-of-fusionism/), who was misappropriating a venerable lineage including #Kant and #Aristotle. I'm sick of hearing this obvious nonsense used as a fig leaf to justify not just abandoning those in need, but making everyone else abandon them too. 1/n
“My views on #charity are very simple. I do not consider it a major #virtue and, above all, I do not consider it a #moral#duty. There is nothing wrong in helping other people, if and when they are worthy of the help and you can afford to help them. I regard charity as a marginal issue. What I am fighting is the idea that charity is a moral duty and a primary virtue.”
Character discussion! (Spoilers, all series)
Unfortunately it is difficult to have in-depth conversations about characters without spoilers, so I am sure this thread will contain some.