I first encountered the word, virtue, in Latin class in my junior year of high school. My teacher indicated that this English word derived from the Latin virtus. Then, she added the comment that the word meant much more than our common understanding of virtue. I also learned that the Latin pronunciation of virtus phonetically in English would be “were-two-as,” given that the letter “v” in Latin is pronounced like the English “w.” At that time, I was much more interested in how to pronounce virtus than concentering on the meaning of the word. an abundance of interest in the whole subject matter of virtue, that is, virtus.

Virtus is more than just a dingle characteristic an individual might display. As my teacher willed to instill in our young minds, virtus was about being all the good that we could be, not just in a single action or trait.

The concept of virtus has been extremely important for thinkers, philosophers, theologians, and believe it or not, politicians for thousands of years beginning in Greece about 400 BCE. There has been a recent surge in contemporary interpretations of Plato and other Stoics. What has renewed my interest in virtus has come by learning what Thomas considered the cardinal virtues. And, most recently, my reading Thomas Ricks’ book, First Principles: what America’s Founders learned from the Greeks and Romans and how that shaped our country, and then more recently, Jeffrey Rosen’s The pursuit of happiness: how classical writers on virtue inspired the lives of the Founders and defined America.

I have come to understand virtue as another of those most important concepts that are extremely important but also undefined. I have previously noted that many areas of study actually are grounded with concepts that are undefined. The groundwork of physics is based on the concepts of mass, distance, and time, all of which are undefined. In biology life is undefined. In theology God is undefined. In relationships love is undefined. We know what time, life, God, and love are by observing the effects that these things have in the world, and to some degree, and we can measure these elements, but we don’t define them. Rather, we speak of these things as real, important, and basic to our understanding of life without exact definitions. It is remarkable that we don’t actually define life because we don’t really understand how it starts, but we can see the effects of life and we can see the absence of life, such as in death. The same seems to be true of virtue, which is perhaps why my Latin teacher said that virtus was much more than virtue.

What is virtue?

Without defining virtue, many deep thinkers have identified lists of virtues.

•  St. Thomas Acquainas (13^th century) identified “four cardinal virtues” as:  temperance, justice, prudence, and fortitude. He went on to say that virtues are habits that can and should be developed in a lifetime. He also said that what holds these cardinal virtues together was love. He quoted both Aristotle and St. Augustine who said that virtue makes the soul exceedingly good. Finally, he said that developing habits of virtue come primarily from reason, not from emotion or desire, thus “virtue is a quality of the mind,” which then leads to virtuous behavior and “governing” one’s emotions. He also said that “virtue is in the soul” and it brings power to an individual. He agrees with Aristotle that the “intellectual virtues” are wisdom, science, and understanding, noting that “wisdom teaches the four cardinal virtues.” An interesting usefulness of this understanding of virtue is that God instills an “interior” feeling of virtue that can be manifest in some form of art. He also mentions Cicero.
• President Thomas Jefferson (early 19^th century) followed the Epicurean philosophers in suggesting that “pleasure is the beginning and end of living happily, but added, “happiness is the aim of life, virtue the foundation of happiness, utility the test of virtue” and then identified the very same virtues Thomas had suggested: prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice.
• Cicero (1^st century BCE) suggests that there are three parts of prudence: memory of the past, understanding of the present, and foresight of the future. Additionally, he identifies four cardinal virtues:
  • Perception and intelligent development of truth
  • Preservation of civil society with the faithful rendering to everyone what he is properly owed
  • The greatness of power of a noble and unconquerable spirit
  • In the order of moderation of things, i.e. temperance and self-control

           Cicero further noted that the “moral and good” springs from one or more of these 4  

• Aristotle suggested that there were 12 virtues: courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, great-souledness, proper ambition, patience, truthfulness, witness, friendliness, modesty, righteous indignation.
  • He also noted excesses and deficiencies in each of these, e.g., rashness is an excess of courage, while cowardice is the deficiency
• Bem Franklin (18^th century) listed 12 virtues: order, temperance, humility, industry, frugality, sincerity, resolution, moderation, tranquility, cleanliness, justice, and silence. Later, he added chastity.
• Many philosophers have suggested that the result of personal virtue should take us to genuine acceptance, understanding, and care of others. Martin Buber (20^th century), with his famous “I and Thou” phrase directed humankind first to oneself and then to others.
• Baldassare Castiglione (16^th century), philosopher, discussed what could be the characteristics of a “courier,” i.e., a person who carries a message. Such a person should have grace and effortless mastery, fusion of arms and letters, moral integrity and virtue, the power of eloquence and wit, and cultivating beauty and aesthetic sensibility. He said a “gentleman must possess all the virtues: prudence, justice, liberality, magnificence, honor, gentleness, pleasantness, and affability,” then noting “temperance according to Ottaviano, is the basis for them all.”
• Nancy Sherman (21^st century), philosopher, summarizes the Stoics’ understanding of virtue including Socrates, Zeno, and suggesting that logic, physics, and “ethics” together form the essence of virtue. A good portion of the Stoics was their enhancement of thinking to govern the “passions” (appetites and emotions) including an avoidance of complaining, facing trials and pain, and ultimately have concern for others, the basic idea being that we can learn from everything that happens to us and around us. Sherman adds that elements of “grit and resilience, self-compassion, inner freedom, and frugality were the results of virtue.
• Jonathan Haidt (21^st century) suggests that there are implicit virtues in politics, with different foci in contemporary conservative and liberal persuasions, namely care, liberty, fairness, loyalty, authority, and sanctity. He suggests that conservatives and liberals focus on three or four of these virtues.
• Many biblical passages that relate to virtue:
  • Micah 6.8: What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly
  • Zech. 7.9: This is what the Lord says: administer true justice and show loving devotion to one another
  • Ps. 82.3: Defend the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed
  • Eph. 5.22: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

Summary of virtue

I could write for pages on what has been said of virtue and its value. Instead of that arduous endeavor, I will simply suggest what I think are some of the basic ingredients of virtue/virtus.

1. Truth and honesty: This theme is a basic ingredient. Most philosophers say you must be honest with yourself first, and then honest with others.
2. Care for other people: This seems to be another basic theme, which allegedly follows from being truthful.
3. Love: The aspects of love include loving oneself (essentially taking care of yourself), caring for others, caring for property, valuing beauty, and caring for nature.
4. Patience: This could be seen as temperance, forbearance, and calmness of mind
5. Humility: Humility is highly related to confidence, which could be said to be a way of loving oneself and loving others.
6. Thinking clearly: Whether rationality, logic, fairness, justice, or other aspects of cognition, it remains important.
7. Feeling deeply and governing emotion and desires: I have to first know what I feel in order to “govern” it, which means recognizing what I feel first and then moving into thinking and doing.
8. Science: Keeping up with relevant research

What are your virtues…and what may be missing

• Personal: as I dare to look at the virtues that are displayed in my life, I see some that have been a part of me since childhood, some have developed in adulthood, and some that are only now developing. I also see some that could use some work. Fortitude has always been a part of me. Then I came to value truth, thinking clearly, feeling deeply, and caring for people.
• What are your current virtues?
• What are your developing virtues?
• What virtues that may be limited in your life?
• What virtues do you see in various people in your life?

References

Aquinas, T. Summa Theologica. Part II, section XII

Buber, M. I and thou.

Haidt, J. Why good people are divided by politics and religion

Johnson, R. and Brock, D. I want to tell you how I feel

Newell, W. (ed.). What is a man: 3000 years of wisdom on the art of manly virtue.

Ricks, T. First Principles: what America’s Founders learned from the Greeks and Romans and how that shaped our country

Rosen, J. The pursuit of happiness: how classical writers on virtue inspired the lives of the Founders and defined America.

Sherman, N. Stoic wisdom: ancient lessons for modern resilience