Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Curiosity as a Guide to the Virtuous Life

  • Published:
Pastoral Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We are concerned here with the existential question: In order to live a virtuous life, whether it is better to commit one's life to good works among humankind or to the perfection of one's spiritual being by turning away from humanity and devoting oneself entirely to God. We examine this issue—a controversy in moral philosophy from the time of the ancient Greeks—in a short story by Leo Tolstoy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, R.M. (1984). Saints. Ethics, 81, 392–401.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allport, G. (1950). The nature of personality: Selected Papers. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayley, J. (1967). Introduction. In Tolstoy, L. Great short stories of Leo Tolstoy. (L. Maude & A. Maude, Trans.) New York: Harper & Row (pp. vii-xviii).

    Google Scholar 

  • Erikson, E.H. (1969). Gandhi's truth. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, J. (1986). Introduction. Dostoevsky, F. Crime and punishment, New York: Bantam (pp. v-xx).

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1915). Our attitude toward death. New York: Norton. Standard Edition, volume 14, 161–171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginzburg, L. (1991). On psychological prose. (J. Rosengrant, Trans.) Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, C. (1991). Understanding shame. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, C. (1996). Speaking with the devil: Exploring Senseless Acts of Evil. New York: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, C. (2000). The evil we do: The psychoanalysis of destructive people. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loudon, R. B. (1988). Can we be too moral? Ethics 98, 361–378.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maslow, A. (1961). The need to know and the fear of knowing. Journal of General Psychology 68, 111–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, F.C., Fowers, B.J., & Guinon, C.B. (1999). Re-envisioning psychology: Moral dimensions of theory and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slonim, M. (1958). An outline of Russian literature. New York: The New American Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolstoy, L. (1967). Father Sergius. In Tolstoy, L. Great short works of Leo Tolstoy (L. Maude & A. Maude, Trans.) New York: Harper & Row [1898] (pp. 501–546).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolstoy, L. (1987). The death of Ivan Ilyich. (Lynn Solotaroff, Trans.) New York: Bantam Books [1886].

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolstoy, L. (1989). How minute changes of consciousness caused Raskolnikov to commit murder. In Dostoevsky, F. Crime and punishment. New York: Norton (George Gibian, Ed.) (pp. 487–488) [1890].

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The International Journal of Psychotherapy, USA

    Carl Goldberg (Editor-for-the-Americas)

  2. Social Work Department, St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospitals, New York, NY

    Virginia Crespo

Authors
  1. Carl Goldberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Virginia Crespo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Goldberg, C., Crespo, V. Curiosity as a Guide to the Virtuous Life. Pastoral Psychology 51, 283–292 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022581215304

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022581215304

Search

Navigation