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Platonic virtue The four classic Cardinal virtues are:[4] temperance: σωφροσύνη (sōphrosynē) prudence: φρόνησις (phronēsis) courage: ἀνδρεία (andreia) justice: δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē) This enumeration is traced to Greek philosophy and was listed by Plato in addition to piety: ὁσιότης (hosiotēs), with the exception that wisdom replaced prudence as virtue.[5] Some scholars[6] consider either of the above four virtue combinations as mutually reducible and therefore not cardinal. It is unclear whether multiple virtues were of later construct, and whether Plato subscribed to a unified view of virtues.[7] In Protagoras and Meno, for example, he states that the separate virtues can't exist independently and offers as evidence the contradictions of acting with wisdom, yet in an unjust way; or acting with bravery (fortitude), yet without wisdom. Aristotelian virtue In his work Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle defined a virtue as a point between a deficiency and an excess of a trait.[8] The point of greatest virtue lies not in the exact middle, but at a golden mean sometimes closer to one extreme than the other. However, the virtuous action is not simply the "mean" (mathematically speaking) between two opposite extremes. As Aristotle says in the Nicomachean Ethics: "at the right times, about the right things, towards the right people, for the right end, and in the right way, is the intermediate and best condition, and this is proper to virtue."[9] This is not simply splitting the difference between two extremes. For example, generosity is a virtue that fits between the two extrema of miserliness and being profligate. Generosity the perfect between the two errors; it is hitting right on the target. Further examples include: courage as the golden mean between cowardice and foolhardiness and confidence the golden mean between self-deprecation and vanity. To find the golden mean requires common-sense smarts, not necessarily high intelligence. In Aristotle's sense, virtue is excellence at being human, a skill that helps a person survive, thrive, form meaningful relationships, and find happiness. Learning virtue is usually difficult at first, but becomes easier with practice over time until it becomes a habit. Prudence and virtue Seneca, the Roman Stoic, said that perfect prudence is indistinguishable from perfect virtue. Thus, in considering all consequences, a prudent person would act in the same way as a virtuous person.[citation needed] The same rationale was expressed by Plato in Meno, when he wrote that people only act in ways that they perceive will bring them maximum good. It is the lack of wisdom that results in the making of a bad choice instead of a prudent one. In this way, wisdom is the central part of virtue. Plato realized that because virtue was synonymous with wisdom it could be taught, a possibility he had earlier discounted. He then added "correct belief" as an alternative to knowledge, proposing that knowledge is merely correct belief that has been thought through and "tethered". |
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