Virtue: Is There Such a Thing? Part 1

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A Brief History of Virtue

Poem: “The Day is Done” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Statement of the Whole: Educators talk often about education as the cultivation of Wisdom and Virtue. Cultivating something, such as Virtue, requires that we both understand it and how to cultivate it. In this episode, we uncover Virtue and discuss how we encourage our students to adopt it.

  1. Question: What is the history of thought regarding Virtue?
    1. Virtue: an excellence (particularly a moral one) or skill.
    2. There is a clear emphasis on action! We don’t call someone who knows exactly the right thing to do in every situation but never does it, “virtuous.”
    3. With both Plato and Aristotle, we must underscore the importance of the concept of Harmony. Virtue is harmony of the soul and the body with the good.
  2. Plato
    1. For Plato, Virtue is acting rightly, which requires proper knowledge.
    2. Simply put, failure to act virtuously is a result of not knowing.
    3. The more we see the Whole the more we live within our part of that Whole well, or find the Greatest Good.
  3. Aristotle
    1. What is Eudaimonia? Flourishing. Analogy of the perfectly formed tree
    2. Note: The Golden Mean, balance, etc.
    3. Both Eudaimonia and knowledge are important to both Plato and Aristotle, but whereas Plato practices the virtues in an attempt to accord with the forms, Aristotle sees the virtues as leading toward eudaimonia, or flourishing, which is worth attaining in and of itself.
  4. So Christian Europe built upon the Greek’s view of virtue by developing a set of virtues and then vices to oppose them.
  5. The Latin, cardo, means literally “hinge” or that which life turns upon.
    1. 4 Cardinal
      1. Prudence
      2. Temperance
      3. Courage
      4. Justice
    2. 3 Theological
      1. Faith
      2. Hope
      3. Love
  1. The Church Fathers recognize the truth in the work of Plato and Aristotle, and build upon it.
    1. Augustine (from Of the Morals of the Catholic Church):

“For these four virtues (would that all felt their influence in their minds as they have their names in their mouths!), I should have no hesitation in defining them: that temperance is love giving itself entirely to that which is loved; fortitude is love readily bearing all things for the sake of the loved object; justice is love serving only the loved object, and therefore ruling rightly; prudence is love distinguishing with sagacity between what hinders it and what helps it.”

  1. Aquinas (from the Summa Theologica):

“God Himself is the rule and mode of virtue. Our faith is measured by divine truth, our hope by the greatness of His power and faithful affection, our charity by His goodness. His truth, power and goodness outreach any measure of reason. We can certainly never believe, trust or love God more than, or even as much as, we should. Extravagance is impossible. Here is no virtuous moderation, no measurable mean; the more extreme our activity, the better we are.”