I agree with both plato and aristotle, though maybe not with everyone. I think there's something self focused about aspiration even when it's moral. If i'm thinking of this fundamentally in terms of my own aspirational project to be more brave, i'll feel bad about what this means for my cowardice. And so i do think that aristotle thinks that at a certain point, like your character, its kind of fixed. Your life is no longer about coming to appreciate values more fully. You should do as much good as you can with the appreciation that you've got. So i'm going to hold both of those, don't you think? Um, yes.
Where do our deepest personal values come from? Can we choose those values? Philosopher and author Agnes Callard of the University of Chicago talks about her book, Aspiration, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Callard explores the challenge of aspiration--who we are versus who we would like to become. How does aspiration work? How can we transform ourselves when we cannot know how it will feel to be transformed? Callard discusses these questions and more in this provocative episode.