I had met Ivan on campus at the Starbucks, upon his request of course as I personally don't care for such bourgeois establishments, and had a wonderful discussion covering a multitude of topics. We began with light conversation regarding his going to Orlando for the Labor Day weekend. He explained how he only went out to restaurants with some of his friends, all Chinese or Taiwanese, and rented a hotel room together. A droll experience to be sure, for what experience would be complete in Orlando without visiting Disney World? At any rate, I changed the topic and asked him why he chose that particular name and he responded that Ivan was the name of the main character in a television series from Hong Kong. He explained that he respected that character's qualities, salient of which are being a loyal friend, and someone is moral. This, of course, developed into a deep discussion of morality and how the Ancient Greek philosophers described morality as the tool of the soul. I.e., the most important good of the soul is moral virtue. By being virtuous one enjoys a psychological state whose value outweighs whatever other kinds of goods one might have by being vicious.We had a hell of a time.
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