168. Virtue / Vice

168. Virtue / Vice

From Undeceptions with John Dickson by Undeceptions Ltd

February 22, 2026 · 1h 10m · Season 16 · Episode 1

About this episode

This episode explores the concepts of virtue and vice in both pop culture and real life, questioning the value of pursuing goodness.

In pop culture, we often enjoy watching - or reading - vice and virtue play out, with the former often far more exciting than the latter. But what about real life? Do we still find vice “sizzling” (as one writer described it), and virtue stale? At the heart of this lies a much deeper question: What good is there in pursuing the good? FOR FULL SHOW NOTES: https://undeceptions.com/podcast/virtue-vice/ (00:08) - - Is virtue boring? (05:18) - - What is virtue? (11:14) - - What's valuable about the Middle Ages? (15:23) - - Aristotle and the virtues (18:10) - - Vice vs. Virtue (30:42) - - The root of all evil (34:38) - - The root of all good (41:56) - - Rapid Fire Round: Virtue/Vice pairs (49:58) - - Cultivating virtue (58:59) - - Why pursue Christian virtue? (01:02:40) - - Five Minute Jesus CREDITS Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley. Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher. Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian. Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant. Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant. Peter Kozushko is our North American representative, a contact point for church pastors who are…

People in this episode

Host: John Dickson

Topics covered

  • virtue
  • vice
  • pop culture
  • Aristotle
  • Christianity

Keywords

  • Middle Ages
  • cultivating virtue
  • Christian virtue

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Undeception

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