Concept
Virtue
Overview
morally positive trait or quality deemed to be morally good
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Virtue is discussed.
Now it is certain that virtues are commonly regarded as good in themselves. The feeling of moral approbation with which we generally regard them partly consists in an attribution to them of intrinsic value. Even a Hedonist, when he feels a moral sentiment towards them, is regarding them as good-in-themselves; and Virtue has been the chief competitor with Pleasure for the position of _sole_ good. Nevertheless I do…
G. E. Moore, Principia Ethica
names the idea; states what it is; opens on it
Virtue considered in its complete perfection is, therefore, regarded not as if man possessed virtue, but as if virtue possessed the man, since in the former case it would appear as though he had still had the choice (for which he would then require another virtue, in order to select virtue from all other wares offered to him). To conceive a plurality of virtues (as we unavoidably must) is nothing else but to…
Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysical Elements of Ethics
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; opens on it
These truths are so evident that all must agree to them; though some may dispute about the quantity and the degree: for they may think, that a very little virtue is sufficient for happiness; but for riches, property, power, honour, and all such things, they endeavour to increase them without bounds: but to such we reply, that it is easy to prove from what experience teaches us in these cases, that these external…
Aristotle, Politics
names the idea; states what it is; author linked in the graph; opens on it
Asked about moral virtue, he replied: The virtuous man thinks of the difficult thing[17] first, and makes material advantage only a secondary consideration. This may be said to constitute moral virtue. The Master said: The man of knowledge finds pleasure in the sea, the man of virtue finds pleasure in the mountains.[18] For the man of knowledge is restless and the man of virtue is calm.
Confucius, The Sayings of Confucius A New Translation of the Greater Part of the Confucian Analects
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; commentary markers; states what it is; author linked in the graph
The possessor of the higher virtues necessarily possesses the potentiality for the inferior virtues; but the possessor of the lower does not, conversely, possess the higher. Such are the characteristics of the virtuous man. PRUDENCE TO DECIDE WHETHER IT IS POSSIBLE TO POSSESS VIRTUES UNSYMMETRICALLY? (Many interesting questions remain).
Plotinus, Plotinos
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; opens on it
Philosophers who discussed Virtue
- Stilpo
- Je Tsongkhapa
- Panaetius
- Xenocrates
- Adam Ferguson
- Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)
- Sage (philosophy)
- Protagoras
- Proclus
- René Descartes
- Richard Clyde Taylor
- Zeno of Citium
- Michel de Montaigne
- Alasdair MacIntyre
- Seneca the Younger
- Antisthenes
- Prodicus
- Theophrastus
- Science of morality
- Rosalind Hursthouse
- Richard Cumberland (philosopher)
- Diodorus of Tyre
- Gabriel Bonnot de Mably
- Al-Ma'arri
Related ideas
- Epicurus
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Kaivalya
- Pity
- Hadith
- Vice
- Agape
- Jainism
- Satya
- Justice
- Sophia (wisdom)
- Love
- Personality
- Positive psychology
- Muhammad
- Law
- Catechism of the Catholic Church
- Mishnah
- Mahabharata
- Noble Eightfold Path
- Psychology
- Plato
- Bhagavad Gita
- Guru Nanak
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of Absurdism.