Definition of Virtue

The Catholic Encyclopedia has http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15472a.htm

According to its etymology the word virtue (Latin virtus) signifies manliness or courage. "Appelata est enim a viro virtus: viri autem propria maxime est fortitudo" ("The term virtue is from the word that signifies man; a man's chief quality is fortitude"; Cicero, "Tuscul.", I, xi, 18). Taken in its widest sense virtue means the excellence of perfection of a thing, just as vice, its contrary, denotes a defect or absence of perfection due to a thing. In its strictest meaning, however, as used by moral philosophers and theologians, it signifies a habit superadded to a faculty of the soul, disposing it to elicit with readiness acts conformable to our rational nature. "Virtue", says Augustine, "is a good habit consonant with our nature."

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What does this mean? We are made in the image and likeness of God. Virtue is everything that we do which is natural to us. When we fail to act naturally we sin. What is natural to us? To love God with all our mind, soul and strength and to love our neighbour as ourself.

Shabby said:

How would all of you define virtue?

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A moral excellence or moral skill. It is the developed ability for moral action to which one adheres.


eudaimonia,

Mark

Shabby said:

How would all of you define virtue? I would like some viewpoints from atheists and other world religions as well hopefully.

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Does this exclude other Christians?

What is a virtue? What makes something a virtue? Please try to avoid using dictionary definitions and root the word.

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I see virtues to be the qualities of the character of God. These would be qualities that we can't possess fully in this life, but will be possessed fully when our salvation is complete.

Shabby said:

How would you define morality? What concept drives morality?

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Morality is a code of choiceworthy values. A value is a goal (a state of affairs) that requires a particular action or actions to achieve. By "code", I mean that there is either a set of pre-determined values, or a set of methods for evaluating, selecting, and prioritizing values and the means by which to achieve them.

I personally consider a value worthy of choice when it nourishes the life (enhances the well-being) of the actor.


eudaimonia,

Mark

Shabby said:

How would all of you define virtue? I would like some viewpoints from atheists and other world religions as well hopefully.

What is a virtue? What makes something a virtue? Please try to avoid using dictionary definitions and root the word.

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Virtue and Beauty depend upon one another. Take an uncarved block for example. What would you make of it?
Would you breathe life into your own soul or would you let the world devour you? Would you be prolific or a devourer or both?
Remember that phrase Jesus speaks about, Behold I make all things new!
Would you create your own soul only to devour it and in turn renew it. If the soul is Immortal then should we not bring renewal to ourselves so that we do not fade away; rather a rebirth as if a phoenix has risen--from life unto death unto life-everlasting.
A renewal of the soul must be considered when pondering what is virtuous to the soul. Consider.
The second virtue would be words.

I was always a word man better than a bird man.
--Jim Morrison; an american prayer

You can see some of the thoughts of early Church Fathers at http://www.orthodox.net/gleanings/virtues.html

For example

And therefore the blessed Paul also, in leading us away from sin, leads us to virtue. For where, tell me, is the advantage of all the thorns being cut out, if the good seeds are not sown? For our labor, remaining unfinished, will come round and end in the same mischief. And therefore Paul also, in his deep and affectionate anxiety for us, does not let his admonitions stop at eradicating and destroying evil tempers, but urges us at once to evidence the implanting of good ones. For having said, 'Let all bitterness, and wrath, and clamor, and railing be put away from you, with all malice,' he adds, `And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other.' For all these are habits and dispositions. St. John Chrysostom, Homily XVI (Eph. 4:31-2)

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and

If the highest end of virtue is that which aims at the advancement of most, gentleness is the most lovely of all, which does not hurt even those whom it condemns, and usually renders those whom it condemns worthy of absolution. Moreover, it is the only virtue which has led to the increase of the Church which the Lord sought at the price of His own 'Blood, imitating the lovingkindness of heaven, and aiming at the redemption of all, seeks this end with a gentleness which the ears of men can can endure, in presence of which their hearts do not sink, nor their spirits quail. St. Ambrose of Milan, Two Books Concerning Repentance

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or

So the active life is to give bread to the hungry, to teach the ignorant with the word of wisdom, to set aright the lost, to recall a proud neighbor to the life of humility, to care for the weak, which services each of us should perform, and provide the wherewithal of subsistence for those entrusted to us. Truly the contemplative life is to hold fast with the whole mind, at least to the charity of God, our neighbor but to abstain from external action; to cleave to the sole desire for the Creator, so that the only recourse for the spirit is, scorning all cares, to burn to see the face of the Creator, so that it now understands how to bear the weight of corruptible flesh with grief; to seek with all its desires to be among those hymn-singing choirs of Angels, to mingle with the citizens of Heaven, to rejoice at the eternal incorruption in the present of God. The Homilies of Saint Gregory the Great On the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel

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Eudaimonist said:

Morality is a code of choiceworthy values. A value is a goal (a state of affairs) that requires a particular action or actions to achieve. By "code", I mean that there is either a set of pre-determined values, or a set of methods for evaluating, selecting, and prioritizing values and the means by which to achieve them.

I personally consider a value worthy of choice when it nourishes the life (enhances the well-being) of the actor.


eudaimonia,

Mark

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What do you mean by well-being? It is here that we shall get to the heart of the matter!

I think any personality trait that we might call "good" could be called a virtue. I know that "good" and "bad" are largely subjective, but when most people agree on one position, I think that lends credibility to something being either good or bad. One thing that I personally see as a good personality trait is patience. I think most people would agree with me, so I have no qualms making the statement, "Patience is a virtue." Please note, I'm not talking about some simple majority, I'm talking about nearly universal agreement.

Virtue is essential honesty with oneself and with others.

DailyBlessings said:

Virtue is essential honesty with oneself and with others.

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I have no idea what this means.
Also, I'm going to take the legs right out from under Pesto by denying that patience is a virtue. Sorry to bring down universal agreement so quickly, but patience is merely a necessity for those who can't get what they want in a timely matter. Let's not make a virtue out of necessity.

RecoveringPhilosopher said:

I have no idea what this means.

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Sorry, quoting a yoga teacher of mine. People are essentially virtuous, so virtue is being honest to oneself.

DailyBlessings said:

Sorry, quoting a yoga teacher of mine. People are essentially virtuous, so virtue is being honest to oneself.

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Oh, those wacky yoga teachers! But seriously, what do you mean by virtuous?

Virtue as the socially useful, then? I have no objection to this, but you would have to ask the Eudaimonist.

RecoveringPhilosopher said:

I have no idea what this means.
Also, I'm going to take the legs right out from under Pesto by denying that patience is a virtue. Sorry to bring down universal agreement so quickly, but patience is merely a necessity for those who can't get what they want in a timely matter. Let's not make a virtue out of necessity.

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Recovering philosopher, your virtue is that you are an antagonist. However, in stoic philosophy, there is a defence to such antagonism; and that is, If you knew of my other faults you surely would have mentioned these.
Nonetheless, every man should be rewarded according to their genius.

Species8472 said:

Recovering philosopher, your virtue is that you are an antagonist. However, in stoic philosophy, there is a defence to such antagonism; and that is, If you knew of my other faults you surely would have mentioned these.
Nonetheless, every man should be rewarded according to their genius.

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I appreciate your flattery, but I try to stick to criticism of opinions, rather than criticisms of a personal nature. Fascists excluded, of course.

RecoveringPhilosopher said:

What do you mean by well-being?

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The flourishing of the individual. But this requires some explanation.

By "nourishing the life of the person", I mean to some extent promoting biological survival -- flourishing does have survival-value and one naturally expects a flourishing individual to be more capable at survival than a non-flourishing individual. A flourishing individual will also tend to feel comfortable with life, love life, and vigorously pursue life. However, flourishing is not itself survival -- it is the fulfillment of one's natural function as a rational being.

More formally, well-being is personal growth with the aim of excellence in the vital powers of the individual, which are those capacities that we have that allow us to live as integrated and functional human individuals.

Our most essential "vital power" is rationality. Its content is knowledge, and its expression is rational action (or reason). In order to function as a human being -- which implies surviving and thriving -- we need to comprehend ourselves and our surroundings, and be able to comprehend well. We need to be able form and evaluate goals, to form plans based on these goals, and to act on those plans. We need to grow in knowledge and wisdom. Reason makes this possible, and acting rationally is the basic expression of what it is to have a human existence.

However, our psychologies are complex, and so there are many factors involved in growing in rationality. We need to have a balanced psyche -- i.e. psychological health -- and this means that our sense of self, our emotions, and our impulses need to form a harmonious and active whole. We need to function smoothly. Psychological dysfunction will distort one's interpretation of reality, will impede one's progress towards one's values, and will sap one's motivation to live. There are many psychological values (or spiritual values, if you prefer) that need to be pursued to live a functional life.

Just as physical health (such as that promoted by eating nutricious food and going to the gym) keeps the body working harmoniously and bursting with life, so psychological (or spiritual) health keep our psyches working harmoniously and bursting with zest for life. There is an analogy to be found there.

This is one way to get at what I mean by "well-being".


eudaimonia,

Mark

Every action we perform has, besides its direct and intended effects, effects on ourselves, on moulding our character and strenghtening our habits.

For instance: staying longer in bed this morning reenforces a bad habit I have of taking too long to get up in general. It is not that I want to get up late; but when the time comes, I find myself too weak and often give in to the desire to sleep a little bit more.

This tendency of mine, which can be influenced by my will (if I make an effort and discipline myself strictly and get up on time everyday I will eventually weaken or even destroy this tendency) but which is not up to me to directly choose to have or not is called a "habit".

A habit can be good or bad. A bad habit is called a vice (this habit of being lazy in the morning is most certainly a vice). A good habit is called virtue.

So, virtue is a tendency we have to perform certain right actions at the right occasions. The virtue of courage makes us less worried and fearsome when danger is near; temperance makes our desire for food and beverage to last only as long as we still need food or drink. The virtue of liberality helps us to be generous with our possessions (but not to the point of being a spendthrift). These are just some examples.

Every virtue, every good habit, consists of a mean between two extremes, two opposing vices.
Courage is the mean between cowardice and foolish daring.

Because of original sin, our nature is corrupted: it is not wholy impossible for us to do good, but acting wrongly comes a lot easier for us. That is why I find it so much easier to stay in bed longer than to get up when the alarm rings.
Likewise, cultivating virtues is difficult and requires discipline and hardwork; developing vices is very easy: it merely requires that we take no effort at all.

God, through His grace, helps us in overcoming our vices and, through right action, develop virtues instead.

Besides the natural virtues (which can be classed in 4 main groups: fortitude, temperance, justice and prudence), there are also 3 theological virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity.

Whereas it is possible, but difficult, to have the natural virtues without much cooperation with the graces God gives us, the theological virtues necessitate God's grace and our cooperation with it.