William Shakespeare Category

Topics: Change Consistency Death Eternity Happiness Independence/Dependence Injustice Loss Normality Parenting Personal Identity (True Self) Questions Sacrifice Selfishness Strangeness Suffering Virtue

Philosophers: Emily Dickinson Fyodor Dostoevsky Ralph Waldo Emerson Alexander Hamilton Heraclitus Homer Franz Kafka Friedrich Nietzsche Plato Rainer Maria Rilke William Shakespeare Socrates Henry David Thoreau Ludwig Wittgenstein

A Little Bit Of Virtue Can Be A Dangerous Thing
Text: Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers

There is a saying, that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing...perhaps the same can be said of virtue.  In the 9th essay of the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton draws a picture of a sometimes-peaceful, sometimes-just state to convey his warning that an only-occasionally good political order is no good at all.  His insight points to an even further idea, that virtue without consistency can be worse than its absence altogether. Full essay.