What are virtues? Virtue and vice

As the hero of the well-known cartoon said: "If you are good, it's good, and when it's the other way around it's bad!" Everybody lives in society from the birth, performs certain actions and receives corresponding assessments. The theme of this article will be basically good and righteous actions of a person doing good or striving for it. What are virtues, what are they and how can one help oneself in acquiring such qualities? Let's understand.

Basic concepts

Virtue and vice - for many, these definitions are not fully understood, because in everyday everyday use such words are infrequent. Of course, every child knows what is good and what is bad. However, unlike the values set in society, the norms of ethics and morality, virtue is an inner need to do good not because it is "so necessary", but simply because you can not otherwise. Also, virtue can be recognized and certain personal qualities of a person, helping him to find his place in society. Such, for example, can be:

• politeness;
• friendliness;
• The ability to compassion and empathy;
• a responsibility;
• honesty;
• Working capacity and so on.

Vice is the reverse side of virtue, or rather, its opposite. Any act that causes harm to yourself or the world around us can be considered vicious. Proceeding from this, it is possible to recognize and reprehensible character traits:

• laziness;
• greed;
• Conceit;
• Falsity;
• Envy and others.

Analysis and study of human vices and virtues have always interested the minds of enlightened people, both ancient and more modern. His own classification of virtues was various philosophical and religious teachings.

In the days of antiquity

Even the ancient Greeks noticed that the path to righteousness is rather difficult. Virtue is not given from birth, the road to it is thorny and requires considerable effort. Based on ancient Greek philosophy, there are such types of it:

• moderation;
• wisdom;
• courage;
• justice.

In this case, the great Socrates gave primacy to wisdom, and the source of each thought was intelligence. But his disciple, no less than the great philosopher Plato believed that each of the virtues is based on the personal property of the soul: wisdom comes from the mind, and courage is based on the will. He also noted that each estate is more inherent in some particular virtue - so, do not wait for courage or wisdom from the artisan, and moderation - from the soldiers or rulers.

Arguing about what virtues are, one can not help recalling Aristotle, who divided human essence into virtue of will (ethical) and mind (dianoetic). He believed that the sensual, unreasonable part of any person is obedient to his mental (reasonable) part. Virtue was defined as the ability to find the "golden mean" in everything, the deviation in one direction or another was recognized as vice. That is, this is a kind of measure between the lack or excess of something.

O Great Renaissance

In the Middle Ages, during the Renaissance humanism, virtue - virtus - was considered the main category that defines the ideal personality. Uomo virtuoso - so called the person who has it. This concept covered a whole range of moral norms, acquiring more diverse shades over time.

On the one hand, the notion of what virtues are, was based on the provisions of ancient ethics and was interpreted as reasonable self-limitation in spiritual and physical needs. On the other hand, the image of the ideal person - uomo virtuoso - was slightly mitigated by new ideas about the inseparability of body and soul, earthly and spiritual needs. Therefore, an ideal person was considered not only reasonable, but also active, because the primary duty of man is constant self-development, the desire for cognition and useful activity.

"New" Times

Over time, the notion that such virtues took on new forms. One of the leading representatives of the philosophy of the "new" time - Spinoza - considered virtue the virtue that a person can bring to the surrounding world. But according to Kant, virtue - there is a solid moral stability in following its duty, never, however, becoming a habit, and each time demanding an informed choice.

A well-known political figure, writer and diplomat Benjamin Franklin in his autobiography defined the principle of "thirteen virtues" that should be inherent in a successful person:

• Calmness;
• modesty;
• justice;
• moderation;
• thrift;
• Hard work;
• Order;
• silence;
• determination;
• sincerity;
• abstinence;
• purity;
• chastity.

By and large, this list can be extended many times more, for example, pedantic Germans define it by a much larger number of items.

Prussian virtues

This list of the best human qualities originates from the time of Lutheranism of the Enlightenment. The notion of German virtues appeared during the reign of King Frederick William I, which strengthened the internal position of Prussia in the eighteenth century. Until now, it remains a mystery why this particular set was singled out, however, mass follow-up brought him tangible benefits and left a rather significant mark in the history of Prussia. This is how the true virtues of man look, according to Frederick William I:

• thrift;
• Love of order;
• sincerity;
• Incorruptibility;
• obedience;
• Fear of God;
• restraint;
• zeal;
• modesty;
• honesty;
• fidelity;
• hardness;
• Straightness;
• sense of justice;
• discipline;
• subordination;
• reliability;
• dedication;
• courage;
• bravery;
• punctuality;
• call of Duty.

Christian View

Discussing different views on the positive traits of a person's character, one can not fail to touch upon such a notion as Christian virtues. This more or less general concept can be divided into two large parts:

• Cardinal - which include 4 concepts that came to us from ancient philosophy;
• Theological - the doctrine of which brought Christianity into our lives;

In the end, this is the list:

• courage;
• moderation;
• prudence;
• justice;
• hope;
• love;
• Vera.

A little later this list underwent significant changes and a new one was established, representing seven virtues opposing in the Western Christianity seven mortal sins :

• patience;
• humility;
• meekness;
• chastity;
• zeal;
• moderation;
• love.

Internal confrontation

Certainly, every person knows what kind of deed will be for good, but what is evil, nevertheless virtue and vice are an internal conflict for most of us. The difficulty of moral choice has always been inherent in man. "I know the righteous, but I choose pleasant" - this principle of life is actual today. After all, you see, understanding the word of virtue, its meaning, does not mean the corresponding behavior.

For a long time this state of affairs was perceived as a paradox. And really - to understand logically how one can lead an unjust life, knowing that it is vicious, is quite difficult. That is why in the era of antiquity, knowledge, not applied in practice, was not considered as such. According to Aristotle and Socrates, if a person knows how to act correctly and acts contrary to it, this means that his actions are based not on true knowledge, but on personal opinion. In this case, a person is supposed to achieve real knowledge, which is practically confirmed.

Proceeding from the Christian doctrine, bad thoughts and actions of a person speak about the sinfulness of his body, which means that one must completely renounce earthly practicality and rationality, reject the sinful flesh that prevents achieving true spiritual harmony.

Whatever it is, but regardless of whether virtue is understood as intelligence or righteousness, it is acquired by man in the process of realizing the duality of one's nature and the ability to resolve an internal conflict.

What will make you virtuous

From birth to death, a person lives in a society of his own kind. Observing the behavior of other people, comprehending the laws adopted in society, he develops a certain model of behavior. Receiving approval or blame for their actions on the part of other people, a person builds for himself a certain scale of values, the pursuit of which he considers most acceptable.

The main step on the path to knowledge of virtue can be considered recognition of the importance and value of other people. Living in a society, it is impossible to focus exclusively on personal interests and beliefs. Only the recognition of the value of people living side by side, a sober assessment of one's own moral qualities, constant self-improvement can make a person worthy of imitation.

As the seven virtues look like by tradition

Since ancient times, sculptors and artists have embodied their vision of vices and virtues in a variety of ways. More often than not, these were images of young beautiful women in long robes with various attributes.
Christian virtues, for example, could look like this:

• Vera is a girl in white robes, holding a cross in her hands, which marks the death of Christ, or a crystal cup. It can also be depicted with a shield or a lamp in your hand.
• Another virtue - Love - originally looked like a sacrificial lamb or pelican, in canonical painting it looks like a woman with a lot of caressing children or with a flaming heart in her hand. Also quite popular is another image - a girl with one hand sowing seeds, and another pressing to the heart.
• Hope is a girl in green robes, inclined in prayer, sometimes with wings or an anchor. In another version, she extends her hands to the sun in a prayerful gesture, and beside her sits a burning Phoenix.
• Courage, prudence, moderation and justice were also portrayed in female guise.

Which is better, where to strive?

Surprisingly, explaining the very concept of virtue and suggesting ways to its comprehension, none of the greatest philosophers of antiquity and modernity has been able to reliably determine what is the highest virtue. Socrates and Plato, for example, believed that it was wisdom (knowledge), Aristotle - moderation, Confucius - devotion and veneration of elders. Christian doctrine, however, calls the highest virtue love (mainly to God). Probably, everyone can determine for himself which of them to read more than others, because it is impossible to achieve perfection in all directions.