Awesome! (At rationalization and self-deception?)

Dan Ariely

In today's New York Times (online edition), columnist David Brooks discusses Dan Ariely’s new book The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty. The book and Brooks's column raise troubling questions about what Brooks calls "our awesome capacities for rationalization and self-deception" when it comes to judging our own moral behavior.

Does our culture encourage us to let ourselves off the hook too easily? How do our changing cultural attitudes about guilt and moral righteousness affect our collective happiness?

Click here to read Brooks's column..

Welcome aboard, Honors Class of 2016!

"Ulysses and the Sirens" (1891) by John William Waterhouse

So you're officially a college student.  And not just that, you're in ECU Honors.  Congratulations and welcome.  You've officially arrived.  It's a brave new world.   A new place, new people, and new expectations.  But fear not: signs of your success are already apparent.  If you're reading this, then you made it to the HNRS 1213 blog.  That's step #1.  And better yet (step #2), you already have the book for the summer reading (You do, right?  If not, stop reading this right now, yes now, go get your book--Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks--and then start reading this again.  Seriously.).  After taking a peek at the questions on this website (click here;  yes there ARE a lot.  Don't panic!), you may be thinking to yourself (that's called reflection, and good, too, by the way)--"What exactly am I supposed to do here?"  These questions  have a simple purpose.  They are designed to help you engage with the text (and the rest of us).  And since we certainly don't want you to feel uncertain or to approach the questions "willy-nilly" (a fun way to say without structure or system), click here to see the rules.