ABSTRACT
This chapter shifts our attention from taking the right action to being a good person. It begins with the natural law tradition of Europe and the Tao tradition of East Asia. The chapter focuses on the stories of Cinderella and Johnny Appleseed to see what folktales might tell us about being good. It also considers Christian teaching that urges us to be stewards of the earth. The chapter focuses on the virtues of integrity, gratitude, and frugality, and assesses philosophical arguments for appreciating nature. In the play Antigone by Sophocles a young woman defies the king's edict by burying the body of her brother, who was slain as a rebel. Antigone justifies disobeying the law of the land by proclaiming her allegiance to an eternal law, which she claims has greater authority than the decisions of any human ruler.
