Philosophy
There's the old joke, "I was walking down the street and saw a guy hitting himself in the head with a baseball bat. I asked him why he was doing it and he said, 'Because it feels so good when I stop.'" The moral of the story being that sometimes quitting is a good thing.
But we as a culture seem to disagree. Failure is one thing, but quitting is worse. Only quitters are losers. We heap scorn upon those who throw in the towel. You need to finish what you start. We hold this even when that thing is something we don't want to do and aren't doing well. I've heard the story from many fellow parents who had children in organized activities that they came to really dislike. "You don't have to do it again, but you need to finish the year/season."
It would be one thing if there were not enough children to field a team or have the dance/band performance without this one person, but that is not the case. It is that there is held to be a particular virtue in finishing it out, in not quitting, in enduring something you loathe even if there would be more productive ways of spending your time. Did you really make a commitment to your band teacher or team that has the moral weight of a promise? If you hate the activity, you clearly won't be putting your all into it and therefore wouldn't be maximally helpful. Wouldn't it be better not to be a drag on the group?
It is certainly true that many valuable things are difficult and take grit and determination to get through. Yes, we want to teach our children how to do what they need to do even when it isn't easy. But do we learn to do what we need to do by being forced to do what we really don't need to do, just for the sake of having done it all? I've given up on articles I've had virtually done because they weren't coming out as well as I had hoped and the research wasn't taking a shape that interested me. Don't see anything wrong with that. Is there not also a virtue in coming to realize that I don't like what other people do and I have the strength to say "no, thanks" and walk away? Is quitting really a vice in and of itself? Is that a lesson we should also be teaching our kids?
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Philosophy
The Virtue of Quitting
There's the old joke, "I was walking down the street and saw a guy hitting himself in the head with a baseball bat. I asked him why he was doing it and he said, 'Because it feels so good when I stop.'" The moral of the story being that sometimes quitting is a good thing.
But we as a culture seem to disagree. Failure is one thing, but quitting is worse. Only quitters are losers. We heap scorn upon those who throw in the towel. You need to finish what you start. We hold this even when that thing is something we don't want to do and aren't doing well. I've heard the story from many fellow parents who had children in organized activities that they came to really dislike. "You don't have to do it again, but you need to finish the year/season."
It would be one thing if there were not enough children to field a team or have the dance/band performance without this one person, but that is not the case. It is that there is held to be a particular virtue in finishing it out, in not quitting, in enduring something you loathe even if there would be more productive ways of spending your time. Did you really make a commitment to your band teacher or team that has the moral weight of a promise? If you hate the activity, you clearly won't be putting your all into it and therefore wouldn't be maximally helpful. Wouldn't it be better not to be a drag on the group?
It is certainly true that many valuable things are difficult and take grit and determination to get through. Yes, we want to teach our children how to do what they need to do even when it isn't easy. But do we learn to do what we need to do by being forced to do what we really don't need to do, just for the sake of having done it all? I've given up on articles I've had virtually done because they weren't coming out as well as I had hoped and the research wasn't taking a shape that interested me. Don't see anything wrong with that. Is there not also a virtue in coming to realize that I don't like what other people do and I have the strength to say "no, thanks" and walk away? Is quitting really a vice in and of itself? Is that a lesson we should also be teaching our kids?
- Those Who Can't Do Teach?
Ozzie Guillen who now manages the Chicago White Sox also played for them, having been the Rookie of the Year and named to the All Star Team three times. He bristles at the admiration given to Buck Showalter, now managing the Baltimore Orioles, who was...
- Does Size Matter When It Comes To Virtue Ethics?
With the New York Yankees on the verge of getting eliminated from the post-season and Jeff Maynes teaching an ethics class, we had a chance to think about Schadenfreude...sweet, sweet Schadenfreude. Surely, from a virtue ethics perspective there is something...
- What I've Never Understood About Aristotle
I'm thinking about virtues. Aristotle argues that they are the heart of ethics. All things have an end, a goal towards which they are striving which is always a part of them as their potential. Something is virtuous when it actualizes part of its...
- Comedist Sunday School
For an introduction to Comedism, the new religion; passages from The Comedist Manifesto, our holy book; Comedist support for evolution and gay marriage; how Comedism was founded; and a note on the War on Comedy, see these links. Friends, We talked about...
- Sins Of The Left: The Moral Poverty Of Ethical Subjectivism
When I teach ethics, the most common view in the room is Ethical Subjectivism, that moral judgments are purely a matter of personal decision. Everyone has his or her own ethical system and the fact that you consider an act morally right means that, for...