Virtue

Fortitude (painting by Giotto)

A virtue is an action, personality type (conscientiousness for example), or character trait widely accepted to be wholesome and ideal in nature. Examples of virtues are: being loving, honesty, empathy and chivalry.

A virtuous person is one who strives for high moral standards.

Bible reading and human flourishing

See also: Bible reading and human flourishing

There is a significant amount of historical and scientific evidence that Bible reading has greatly increased human flourishing such as people's physical health, psychological well-being, character and virtue, and social connections (See: Bible reading and human flourishing).

Christianity

Saint Paul identified the three greatest virtues as faith, hope and love (or charity – the word caritas can be translated either way). In Christian tradition, these are often known as the three theological virtues, and listed alongside four other cardinal virtues:

Jesus Christ and his apostles taught a gospel of love.

• Justice
• Fortitude (or moral courage)
• Temperance
• Prudence (or wisdom).

There is no express biblical basis for the cardinal virtues, although they can be found in the apocrypha in Wisdom 8:7. Together with the three theological virtues, this gives a total of seven virtues to match the Seven Deadly Sins; contrasting portrayals of the sins and virtues are common in religious art.

Before the twentieth century, a common meaning of "virtue" was a euphemism for virginity. This usage is common in the writings of Shakespeare and many other pre-modern authors.

Virtues may be divided into intellectual virtues (See as intellectual humility), moral virtues, and theological virtues.

Theological virtues of faith, hope and love

See also: Faith and Hope and Love

A summary of William E. Mann's work Theological Virtues indicates:

“

The three theological virtues of faith, hope and love, referred to frequently by the apostle Paul in his letters, play an indispensable role in Christian theorizing about a person’s duties with respect to God. Thomas Aquinas is responsible for the most thorough and influential philosophical theory of the theological virtues. According to him, faith, hope and love are virtues because they are dispositions whose possession enables a person to act well to achieve a good thing – in this case, the ultimate good of salvation and beatitude. Without them, people would have neither the awareness of nor the will to strive for salvation. Despite the fact that they are infused in persons by God’s grace, one can wilfully and culpably fail to let them develop.

”

Theological virtues of faith hope and love further explained

See also: Theology

The theological virtues are three:

• Faith is an infused virtue, by which the intellect is perfected by a supernatural light, in virtue of which, under a supernatural movement of the will, it assents firmly to the supernatural truths of Revelation, not on the motive of intrinsic evidence, but on the sole ground of the infallible authority of God revealing
• Hope which allow us to trust, with an unshaken confidence grounded on the Divine assistance, to attain life everlasting
• Charity is that theological virtue, by which God, our ultimate end, known by supernatural light, is loved by reason of His own intrinsic goodness or amiability, and our neighbor loved on account of God

Intellectual virtues

The human brain is the most complex physical entity in the universe.

See also: Intellectual humility and Intellectual curiosity

Intellectual virtue may be defined as a habit perfecting the intellect. There are two intellectual virtues:

• Art, the right method with regard to external productions (recta ratio factibilium)
• Prudence, the right method of conduct (recta ratio agibilium)
• Intellectual humility
• Intellectual curiosity

Moral virtues

Moral virtues are those which perfect the appetitive faculties of the soul, namely, the will and the sensuous appetite.

Justice

Justice, an essentially moral virtue, regulates man in relations with his fellow-men. Justice may be divided into annexed virtues:

• Religion, which regulates man in his relations to God
• Piety, which disposes to the fulfillment of duties which one owes to parents and country (also patriotism)
• Gratitude, which inclines one to recognition of benefits received
• Liberality, which restrains the immoderate affection for wealth from withholding seasonable gifts or expenses
• Affability, by which one is suitably adapted to his fellow-men in social intercourse so as to behave toward each appropriately. See also: Agreeableness

Temperance

Obesity is positively associated with impulsiveness, lower self-control and neuroticism.

See also: Self-control

Temperance is that moral virtue which moderates, in accordance with reason, the desires and pleasures of the sensuous appetite attendant on those acts by which human nature is preserved in the individual or propagated in the species. The subordinate species of temperance are:

• Abstinence, which disposes to moderation in the use of food
• Sobriety, which inclines to moderation in the use of spirituous liquors
• Chastity, which regulates the appetite in regard to sexual pleasures

The virtues annexed to temperance are:

• Continence, which restrains the will from consenting to violent movements or concupiscence
• Humility, which restrains inordinate desires of one's own excellence
• Meekness, which checks inordinate movements of anger
• Modesty, which consists in duly ordering the external movements of anger; to the direction of reason

Fortitude

See also: Grit (personality trait) and Psychological resilience

Fortitude, which implies a certain moral strength and courage, is the virtue by which one meets and sustains dangers and difficulties, even death itself. The virtues annexed to fortitude are:

• Patience, which disposes us to bear present evils with equanimity
• Munificence, which disposes one to incur great expenses for the suitable doing of a great work
• Magnanimity is the virtue which regulates man with regard to honors. The magnanimous man aims at great works in every line of virtue, making it his purpose to do things worthy of great honor
• Perseverance, the virtue which disposes to continuance in the accomplishment of good works in spite of the difficulties attendant upon them. See also: Grit (personality trait) and Psychological resilience and Persistence

Affability

In the Summa Theologica, Part II-II, Question 114, St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of a certain virtue which is commonly translated as “the friendliness which is called affability.”

See also: Affability and Conversational skills

Affability is a virtue and the "quality of being pleasantly easy to approach and talk to; friendliness or warm politeness".

The Dominican Friars website article The Friendliness Called Affability indicates:

“

It seems a certain nastiness is becoming increasingly common in the way we deal with those who are not our closest friends. From public figures whose words and actions are broadcast on television, to squabbles in comment sections of online posts, to even the face-to-face interactions of social life, we see more and more records of hostility, anger, violence, and vitriol. Our consciences naturally recoil from this vice – as well they should – but what exactly is the virtue that opposes it? In the Summa Theologica, Part II-II, Question 114, St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of a certain virtue which is commonly translated as “the friendliness which is called affability.” This friendliness, he notes, governs relationships between people because “it behooves man to be maintained in a becoming order towards other men as regards their mutual relations with one another, in point of both deeds and words, so that they behave towards one another in a becoming manner.” It does not only govern those relationships which are intimate or proximate; rather “Every man is naturally every man's friend by a certain general love; even so it is written (Ecclesiasticus 13:19) that ‘every beast loveth its like.’” This does not mean that everyone must be treated with equal intimacy – some people are connected to us by a closer bond than others – but that there is a minimum affability or common decency which is owed to all persons.

”

Magananimity as a Christian virtue

See also: Magnanimity

The article The Manly Virtue of Magnanimity notes:

“

The title of this article calls magnanimity a “manly virtue.” By that, I don’t mean that magnanimity is unique to men or that women are not also called to this trait. After all, Witherspoon calls it a Christian virtue. But I do think magnanimity is a virtue particularly befitting to manhood, and that manhood bereft of magnanimity is especially lamentable. When the Apostle Paul enjoined the Corinthians to be strong, to stand firm in the faith, and to “act like men” (1 Corinthians 16:13), he was calling men and women to courage, but he was also embracing the notion that fortitude in the face of opposition is what we associate with manliness. According to Witherspoon, magnanimity entails five commitments: (1) attempting great and difficult things, (2) aspiring after great and valuable possessions, (3) facing dangers with resolution, (4) struggling against difficulties with perseverance, and (5) bearing sufferings with fortitude and patience. In short, the magnanimous Christian is eager to attempt great things and willing to endure great hardships.

”

Virtue ethics

Aristotle

Virtue ethics is a philosophical approach to morality that emphasizes the development of good character traits (virtues) as the key to ethical behavior. Specifically it focuses on who a person is relative to their character rather than specific rules or consequences of actions. Proponents of virtue ethics often maintain a morally good life is achieved by cultivating virtues like honesty, kindness, courage, generosity, and justice through practice and habit formation. Virtue ethics is often associated with the teachings of the Greek philosopher Aristotle.

Articles:

• Virtue Ethics, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Virtue ethics

Opposition to Virtue

• Wojtyla says that many people devalue the virtues in order to excuse themselves from having to live by a higher standard. Since they don't want to make the effort to change, they treat the virtues lightheartedly or even openly attack them in order to justify their own lack of moral character. "Resentment . . . not only distorts the features of the good but devalues that which rightly deserves respect so that man need not struggle to raise himself to the level of the true good, but can 'light-heartedly' recognize as good only what suits him, what is convenient and comfortable to him" (p. 144).

See also

• Holiness
• Works (theology)
• Character
• Bible reading and human flourishing
• Conservative values
• Commitment as a virtue
• Vice
• Seven Deadly Sins
• Positive social influence
• Essay:Conservative Benefits

External links

Seven Heavenly Virtues:

• What Are the Seven Heavenly Virtues?, Christianity.com
• Seven virtues, Britannica

Christian virtue, general:

• Virtues Leading to Christlikeness, Bible.org
• Virtues that define a Christian life, BibleScripture.net
• The Conduct and Duty of the Church (Ephesians 4-6), Bible.org
• What are Christian Virtues, and What Role do They Play in Society?, Grace Theological Seminary