Virtues
Virtue is described as “personal qualities or traits of
character, shown through habitual action, that make us persons of excellent
character” (Banks, 2013, p. 288). When
natural qualities such as intelligence and strength are acted out in repetition,
a virtuous character is established.
This is not easy to obtain, but when a person develops a virtuous
character, he or she does not have to try to do the moral and ethical decision:
it becomes the natural choice. Some
people have a natural inclination to be virtuous, but still require training
and guidance from authority figures (parents, teachers, laws) to obtain more
habitual virtuous action to accentuate their natural disposition to be
virtuous. When a decision is required, a virtuous person is not considering whether
someone is watching or if they will be inconvenienced; they are considering
what is the moral right and aspiring to consistently live up to that standard
of behavior.
Aristotle is known as one of history’s greatest philosophers. His list of virtues include “benevolence, civility,
compassion, conscientiousness, cooperativeness, courage, courteousness,
dependability, fairness, friendliness, generosity, honesty, industriousness,
justice, loyalty, moderation, reasonableness, self-confidence, self-control, self-discipline,
self-reliance, tactfulness, thoughtfulness, and tolerance” (Banks, 2013, p. 288).
Aristotle believed that living a good
life is predicated on how well we accept and live these virtues. It is not enough to know what virtues are; Aristotle
challenges us to practice and become these virtues on purpose in a way influences other to do the same.
A virtuous person does will not have to tell anyone of
their virtue, it will quite obvious that you are in their presence. I know of several people who have some characteristics
of virtue, but the only virtuous person I can think of is Jesus the Christ. Certainly we strive to follow his example, but
it is a process to obtain this level of virtuosity. If we master the virtue of generosity, we struggle
with tolerance; we are good on being compassionate, but fall short on being dependable. You have to really be committed to living
every second of your life looking for opportunities to live up to highest
possible degree of excellence.
We hinder ourselves in achieving virtue because we are
selfish and self-serving. None of are naturally
virtuous; it is conscious choice you make in the moment to be courteous,
tolerant, or exercise self-control. If
we all could obtain all of these virtues, the world would be a very different place. I would be happy I could consistently exemplify even a few of these virtues. I would love to cultivate the virtue of
moderation in my life. Which one would
you most like to achieve and why?
References
Banks,
C. (2013). Criminal justice ethics. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, INC.
