Coding

I’m using filebrowser to share my personal library with friends. It works well and doesn’t have any obvious bugs, but I’d like to add a QR code to the share screen.

I’ve never use Vue before and only have played with npm/nodejs for a couple hours total, so it feels like I’m programming in Korean. It’s pretty easy to find where to add this code and fool around with adding a qr code component, but the entire npm/vue tooling ecosystem is the difficult part.

There’s a merge request now for this functionality. No testing was put into this, but net time would be better spent if someone that knew what they were doing with Vue could properly integrate the component into the project.

Introduction to Chinese Philosophy

Chapter 3: Kongzi and Virtue Ethics

This chapter finally dives into the weeds with a machete, directly applying some Confucian concepts to western vocabulary terms.

Virtue ethics is about what a person should be, opposed to consequentialism and deontology which emphasize what a person should do. Good character vs right action.

Questions:

How does consequentialism differ from deontology?

• Consequentialism is where a right actions are actions which created the most happiness for the most people, or most “net happiness.” Deontology disagrees with this.

How is rule-consequentialism different from act-consequentialism?

• Rule-consequentialists think acting according to certain rules creates the most net good
• Act-consequentialists think that one should judge each action based on how much good it creates

How is rule-deontology different from act-deontology?

• Rule-dentologists think you can do anything as long as you do not break certain moral imperatives like “Don’t hurt” or “don’t steal”
• Act-dentologists think these rules are good guides but that there are always exceptions

Explain the generalism-particularism spectrum.

• The side of generalism is that there is one rule captures all moral evaluations, where particularism is that there are no particular rules and every moral evaluation depends on context.

What are the four questions virtue ethics addresses?

• What is it to live well?
• What virtues does one need to live well?
• What is human nature like such that one can live well and fulfill virtues?
• How can one cultivate the virtues, given human nature?

What is the difference between moderate and radical virtue ethics?

• Moderate virtue ethics claims that what a person should be is dependant on what someone should do. Virtue theory provides an account of moral motivation and will compliment right action.
• Radical virtue ethics claims that virtue ethics can provide principled guidance on what to do and can function as a theory of right action. “Being” is more important than “doing.” Virtue ethics is complete in itself and doesn’t require right action, this comes naturally.

What are the different aspects of wisdom for Kongzi?

• To “Know others,” and recognize who is upright and who is corrupt. It could be considered a metavirtue as it requires commitment and knowledge of other virtues.

Explain the four other major virtues that Kongzi discusses.

• Goodness or 仁: Caring for others
• Dutifulness: A devotion to loyalty
• Trustworthiness (信)
• Courage:

How does Kongzi’s implicit view of human nature seem to require him to emphasize learning to a somewhat greater extent than thinking?

• Kongzi isn’t explicit of how he views human nature, as naturally good, bad, or neutral, which emphasizes that learning shapes humans.

Misc

I’m sitting in a Starbucks on the campus of Marquette, in the back of the store where the “regulars” are sitting. At first I was going to move because they can be loud and smelly. But since there’s nowhere else to go, I’m here overhearing their conversations about everyday homeless stuff. They’re happy to be here because there’s a bathroom and free wifi, and the workers let them chill here without buying much. One guy is talking about how he’s depressed when he’s not working, and how happy he was once to get a room to himself – the first thing he did was lock the door and lay down in silence. In terms of finances, he was saying that he paid $130/mo for rent and more than a thousand for his savings thanks to the low rent of a guesthouse he was at.