Many stories of tremendous personal success are impressive and instructive. Now and then, we come across one that's astonishing, and that can change our attitudes about what is or isn't possible in the world.

I recently came across an example of this -- the story of a man who has...

This past weekend, I had the honor of helping to open and close a triennial forum of over four hundred highly accomplished people who were convening for the two purposes of intellectual stimulation and social connection. There were entrepreneurs, academics, captains of industry, congressmen, film and television directors, at least...

Throughout history, public honors have generated controversy, and sometimes even elicited a modicum of wisdom in their wake. During a ceremony in Rome dedicating a new statue to a prominent citizen, the great statesman Cato the Elder was asked by an admirer why there was no statue in his honor...

The popular social media website Twitter has turned into the world's greatest cocktail party, and no one has to clean up afterwards, or even pay the tab. It's the new electronic campfire we sit around to talk and laugh and even sing. It's an endless conversation like no other,...

It's good to be back here after an extended summer vacation away from blogging. I've missed this opportunity to think about things philosophically and hear back right away from all my Huffington friends and readers. I look forward in the coming days to many more lively philosophical exchanges over topics...

Is it a great development in contemporary business for freshly minted MBAs in the hundreds to voluntarily take a personal Ethics Oath prior to entering the workforce? Or is such a thing, like many critics declare, an empty gesture and a waste of time, or even an additional opportunity for...

I've blogged before on my amazing experience of the social media site, Twitter. Occasionally, someone in my circle of Twitter friends will ask me to reflect briefly on a concept or topic of interest, and I'll do so in a series of tweets, or postings of 140 characters or less....

Is there wisdom for the way forward from where we are right now? How can we get from the mire of our current crises to the sort of sustainable future we all want? From the ancient Chinese and Greek philosophers, across cultures and through to the present day, the wisest...

As a practical philosopher, I love urging people on to new adventures, to the setting of new goals, and the pursuit of new possibilities. But I never want anyone to leap into a disaster. In the recent past, we've all seen far too many spectacular disasters result from people pursuing...

Columnist David Brooks recently wrote an essay on moral judgment in the New York Times with the cleverly ambiguous title, "The End of Philosophy." Unfortunately, it has caused some casual readers to nod their heads in satisfied agreement that the demise of this hoary tradition of abstract reasoning, from...

Widespread, unsettling change and uncertainty surround us. Every day seems to bring with it a new cause for concern. It's easy to worry about the future. But the great philosophers of the past have recommended something very different from that: the positive response of creative adaptation.

One...

The market tumbles again. New layoffs are rumored. Retail numbers are down. Businesses are closing. Housing foreclosures are up. Your project may or may not get off the ground. Global terrorists could even be reorganizing, or at least getting new cell phones that work better in caves. And if all...

I've been using and enjoying the social website Twitter, as TomVMorris, for about six weeks now. To my tremendous surprise, it's a distinctive and amazing experience. It's not about telling the world, or your fourteen followers, what you had for lunch. It's about building a new form of community. It's...

Throughout the world, death and rebirth seem intimately joined. Winter gives way to spring. Economic downturns precede creative reconfigurations. Neighborhoods break up and come back. Failures can lead to success. At Easter, Christians celebrate this theme in its ultimate incarnation -- the creator of all comes among us to die...

We're told from many quarters that the humanities are in serious trouble now because of our tough economic times. But it's precisely a lack of grounding in the wisdom of the past that has allowed for such widespread disasters in our day. The greatest works of our most insightful predecessors...

The news that Rick Wagoner has been forced out of his position as head of General Motors set me reflecting today. A dozen years ago, I wrote a book whose title, "If Aristotle Ran General Motors," used this quintessential American company, along with a paradigmatically great thinker of the ages...

The ancient philosopher Plato believed that we all live under the distorting influence of illusions. The economic events of our time have arisen out of many of these illusions and, as they continue to unravel the fabric of our lives, are in the process of shattering some of them. But...