Twenty-second International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

What happens to a society where social values get determined by opinions transmitted through virtual tools that allow little dialogue, because the messages move always unidirectionally? What happens when truth and righteousness get defined by the number of likes that individual statements receive? And what tools does a secular society have to require the religious mandate to acknowledge that all humans are of equal value, and have inalienable rights? This paper is an investigation into an education in virtues, as understood by classical philosophers and their main medieval and modern scholars, a reflection on its necessity, and a consideration of the challenges of teaching them today. The investigation reviews the definitions of ethical character and morality and ponders how digital technologies may have modified their meanings, giving them a neutral value, and transforming them to mere options for actions in society. The theoretical background uses, among others, authors like Plato, Aristotle, Avicenna, Thomas de Aquino, and Jonathan Sacks.