Ode to Discipline

Immanuel Kant was known as an erudite gentleman and he became one of the greatest philosophers of all times. This did not happen by coincidence. During his life, Immanuel Kant was also known to be an extremely hard worker - he had an iron discipline. His life was said to be so strictly organised that his neighbours could read the time by watching him pass by during his daily walks in Königsberg.

Why an ode to discipline, rather than e.g. an ode to joy? Discipline has to do with the Latin discere - learning. Discipline is the virtue of the disciple. This virtue is often the engine of long sustained efforts and therefore the basis of success, as the shining example of Immanuel Kant shows. And yet the word discipline became suspicious. One reason is that discipline used to be cultivated in a military context and that is how it got associated with fascism after World War II. This happened unfairly, because discipline is here confused with "blind obedience", which is actually contrary to true self-discipline. During the sixties and the seventies, discipline was further discredited as an element of oppression and an enemy of freedom.

Yet, discipline is one of the most important pillars of our economy. The most successful economies are now the ones who are able to maintain a culture of discipline: pay your taxes, pay your invoices, work your foreseen hours, and limit your debt. Today, discipline is also the most ignored virtue in education. A lot of complaints in education originate from a non-admitted lack of discipline. Also modern plagues like social web addiction can only be cured with a little more discipline.

Nowadays, everybody is focused on performance and passion. This is very fine, but how do you develop performance and passion without a minimum of discipline? A rhetoric question according to Immanuel Kant.

I also refer to my earlier blog: virtues and virtutes. More about Kant in the Book of Life.

Picture: dugwy39 / Shutterstock.com