The Other Side of Virtue: Where Our Virtues Come From, What They Really Mean, and Where They Might Be Taking Us [Paperback]

The Other Side of Virtue is an impressive book. It is not only an examination of virtue throughout the ages but also a ... guide is not really the right word, there are no "how to's" in this book, but it is a guide none the less in that Dr. Myers lays out (from his perspective) what a virtuous life looks like, and how to know when one is on the right track. As Brendan explains it "familiar" virtue is the following of laws and rules, the "Other Side" of virtue is the exploration of "who we are". The very first thing I can, and should, say about this book is that it is amazingly well researched. There would be no doubt in my mind, even had I not known, that Dr. Myers received his Doctorate in Philosophy, he obviously has a fantastic grasp of philosophy and an ability to distill very complex theories and perspectives into easy to read and understand segments.

The book follows virtue through the ages. Starting with heroic cultures (Cheiftan societies), moving through civilized societies (city states), through the Renaissance, Age of Reason, Romanticism, and even into modern expressions of fantasy like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. He then begins the exploration of how these expressions of virtue are manifest in our lives. The primarily vehicle he uses to explain this is in the experience of what he calls "an Immensity" that is a situation that calls to us to make choices which in turn create changes in our lives. From my understanding of his meaning, an immensity is a problem or situation one faces in which ones life will be forever changed. How one responds to these experiences or, to to use Dr. Myers language, an Immensity is when one most clearly lives with virtue.

It is an incredibly moving book one of the few I have ever read that have really wormed its way into my mind and made me really look deeply into who I am. I suppose I have never viewed virtue from this "other side" before... I do not think it is obvious while reading the book, but I do know that my idea of being "virtuous" has meant to me in the past following the rules and laws. Being hospitable, for example, because that is what is expected, not because it is the best, most beautiful way to move through life.

The only really issue I have with the book, and this is true of the other book I had read by Dr Myers, is the way he terms his opinions. It is very strong, so much so that I was put aback by it a couple of times. His descriptions, for instance, of one who excels in spirit, as opposed to one who is bereft of spirit, seemed to me to be coached in terms so extravagant and extreme to actually loose some of their meaning. Or, another example, Dr. Myer's understanding of the soul is coached in terms that are very disparaging of other understandings. Taken in the totality of the book, however, these small instances were not enough to "turn me off" or make the book any less meaningful.

A great book, and one I think I am better for the reading, I look forward to Dr. Myers future works.

Author Brendan Myers, a.k.a. Brendan Cathbad Myers, tackles the subject of virtue ethics in the ancient and modern world. He investigates the ethics of Heroic and Classical peoples of ancient Europe, charts the history of virtue through the Renaissance and into modern times, and advocates a modern ethics informed by ancient forms of virtue. In addition to these things, he offers a counter to passive forms of virtue, a critique of modern individualism, and a new way to understand the spiritual experience. All this he delivers in a book accessible to the general reader.

Unifying Myers' approach are two basic convictions: first, that we must find the source of our ethics in ourselves ("Know thyself"), and second, that community is also indispensable. It is a philosophy not of rule-based obedience, but of character-based action. The emphasis falls not on the laws or commandments we follow, but rather on the qualities in which our characters may excel. These qualities are called virtues.

This is not the same as what Myers calls the "familiar side" of virtue: a host of "passive" and "self-denying" qualities we have inherited largely from Christian tradition: faith, hope, charity, humility, chastity, and most of all docility.

Of greater interest is the "other side." Here Myers invokes a more ancient and original usage, derived on the one hand from the Latin virtus, rooted in the word vir ("man"), and on the other hand from the Greek arete ("virtue" or "excellence"). In short, this usage refers to the ways in which a person's character excels. Myers' ethics is not about docility, but about excellence of character.

Myers articulates the "other side" of virtue in five segments called "movements." The First Movement is a collection of brief aphorisms, inspiring themes to play through the reader's imagination. The Second Movement begins Myers' course through history with what he calls "Heroic" peoples: "the Celts of Ireland, Britain, and Western Europe, Germanic and Scandinavian people, the Greeks of the time of Homer, as well as the Macedonians" (p. 29). The Third Movement contrasts these with what Myers' calls "Classical" peoples. Here he quotes Marcus Aurelius, Cicero, Plutarch, Heraclitus, Euripides, Aristotle, Plato, and Boethius. The course of virtue's history is then interrupted by a period of "passive," law-based ethics, due largely to the influence of Christian values. Myers picks up the story again in the Fourth Movement with Renaissance thinkers who return to Classical ideas of virtue. The trail continues beyond the Renaissance and into the Romantic movement, with figures like Rousseau and Goethe. In the wake of this comes Nietzsche. Finally, Myers finishes out his history with a close look at virtue in two very modern pieces of literature: Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. With these works, Myers brings the discussion up to date and grounds virtue in familiar imagery.

What follows in the Fifth Movement is an exploration pushing the foregoing ideas into new ground. So far, Myers has presented the skeletal framework of "Know Thyself" plus the importance of community, and fleshed it out with history. Next, he asks in what kind of situation one comes to self-awareness. He finds that such knowledge arises via situations that call one's self into question. His name for these situations is "the Immensity." Instances of the Immensity can be small or large, but they always cause one to question one's identity, and always demand a response. In our response we discover who we are. At the same time, we also create who we are. So encounters with the Immensity are opportunities to take responsibility for our own characters. They are chances to display and cultivate virtue.

This, then, is Myers' virtue ethics in brief. It is an engaging philosophy, rooted in ancient values yet flowering in the modern world. The Other Side of Virtue speaks to our times, countering modern individualism and "passive" forms of virtue while championing self-worth and community. It teaches us new things about ethics, spirit, and the spiritual experience.

At the same time, it is not without problems. The foremost problem is Myers' distinction between active and passive virtue. He advocates an active response to the Immensity, as opposed to passively letting it blow you here and there with indifference. This does well to convey the energetic character of his philosophy. But a problem arises when this is distinguished against whole traditions labeled "passive." Christian virtue is dismissed out of hand. Faith, hope, and charity are disposed of in less than a page. And their proponent, Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest theoreticians ever to engage virtue, is not even mentioned in Myers' tour through history. He gets a mere cameo appearance in the introduction. Why, I must ask, are faith, hope, and charity necessarily "passive?" Was the faith of Soren Kierkegaard a passive response to uncertainty in the world? What about the hope of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a Nazi prison? And did Mother Theresa, with all her charitable efforts, respond passively to suffering? All this amounts to a failure to genuinely engage the voices which speak for the other side of the "other side" of virtue.

Other problems with the book are fairly minor. The Other Side of Virtue ultimately rises above its problems.

This is a book that can be taken seriously by pagans and non-pagans, academics and general readers alike. It does not simply re-present ancient lore, but also teaches us something new. And it achieves clarity without sacrificing rigor.

It's difficult to know, in this age of constant distractions, how much of who we culturally are has been lost or remains undeveloped. We suffer from this void every second of every day, clinging to distractions just to survive.

Brendan Myers' book, The Other Side of Virtue, goes a long way in re-introducing us to our cultural roots. Here we find the social event of storytelling that once united people by forming communal dynamics while transmitting a common identity down through the ages. He unveils the virtue of the heroic mindset, and the desire to be remembered for outstanding deeds as the only grasp for immortality we can count on. He then challenges the herd mentality of those who relinquish their will for discernment. By resurrecting the concept of the noble soul, and how the Immensities of life confront by asking who we are, Myers shows us the means to authentic living.

A book well worth reading, and keeping.

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