Religious devotion promotes human flourishing

Just in time for new year resolutions, this NY Times article reviews some studies that show that religious devotion promotes human flourishing (the article focuses on self-control).  Walking in the light of Truth is worthwhile for its own sake of course, but it turns out that religious people are more charitable, have better marriages, more self-control, do better in school, and are generally happier.

Upcoming Philosophy Event

Those that took the Plato class, those interested in Continental philosophy, political philosophy, or people just generally interested in philosophy will be excited about this upcoming event:

I have a DVD of a few panel discussions from a conference held at York University in 1978.  The discussions are amusing and incredibly interesting.  I thought we would start with a panel on ‘Reading the Republic’.  There are some very heavy hitters on the panel – Eric Voegelin, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Allen Bloom, and Frederick Lawrence (a prof of mine at BC).  

The panel discussion is 2 hours, and I thought we would want an hour or so to discuss it.  So that is a longer event than usual.  I suppose we could break it up, but  the discussion holds together best in one viewing I think.  

Please post suggestions about the day of the week that is most convenient for a longer philosophy event, as well as the time.  4-7pm?  3-6?  6-9?  I suppose we could order a pizza.  …  A week or so into the semester I will schedule it.  If there is interest, we could schedule the other 2 things on the DVD (an hour-long lecture by Voegelin on the ‘Structures of Consciousness’ and another panel discussion on reading and criticism).