Ethics Virtue

This article is part of an Ethical theory.

It is often said that morality is the study of vices and virtues. Good men are often described as virtuous, and bad men as vicious. While this does not always hold true, virtues play an important part in shaping a man's morality.

Spheres of Virtue

Virtues and their corresponding vices occur in four main spheres. There are virtues of physique such as strength, speed and fortitude; virtues of the intellect or rational mind such as determination, intelligence and memory; virtues of character or desire such as courage, prudence and temperance; and virtues of position or the material world such as nobility, wealth, and honour. Each type of virtue influences a different stage of the moral process, but all affect morality - otherwise we would not call them virtues. Character virtues determine which desires are formed. Mental virtues weigh options and assist in good decisions. Physical virtues implement the intended action. Social virtues affect how widely one can influence others' desires, consent and actions. Each shall be examined in its turn.

Individual Dispositions

Each man is born with a unique disposition, affecting which virtues they have been naturally blessed with. Some are born handsome and straight-limbed, others with cunning, or patience, or into wealth. Others are born crippled, deaf, irascible or poor. A man may not select his initial disposition in life. However, by dint of training and effort, any virtue may be improved; or by recklessness and ill judgement, reduced. This is readily admitted of most virtues, but not so quickly of those of moral character - indeed, it is said that common sense is the most evenly distributed virtue, as no man claims he has less of it than his neighbours.

Racial Dispositions

It is in their various predilections and dispositions to vices of character that sentient races vary as moral agents. Orcs inherently have a vicious disposition, with a tendency to extremes of vice in almost every instance - perhaps courage and pride are the virtues that they exhibit most readily. Their dissolute lifestyle also renders them with little moral fortitude to overcome their instincts and emotions. Elves, over time, can lose so much of their natural disposition to vices and virtue by sheer ennui, and thus fail to experience the struggle for virtuous desires (apart from their overweening arrogance and vanity, of course). Without desires of character to drive their consent to action, they are led into stultified changelessness, or are driven only by intellectual desires, not moral desires. Dwarves, halflings, and other races all have greater or lesser challenges or tendencies to vice in different areas, relative to humans. However, all face the same moral challenges, just as all soldier face the same enemy, whether they are tall, strong and outfitted in finery, or stunted and ill-equiped. Although this article often refers to mankind, it applies to all (mortal) sentients.

Virtue is Excellence

Each virtue is the representation of excellence in one area of human endeavour. Having all virtues is thus the state which makes a human excel at their endeavours - to do not only the best tasks, but to perform them as well as is humanly possible.

Excellence is not an Extreme

Excellence seems to be the pinnacle of achievement, and thus is thought of as an extreme. However, excellence is often not an extreme but an intermediate. In everything that is continuous and divisible, it is possible to have more, less, or an intermediate amount, and that either absolutely, or relative to ourselves. In a good work of art, it is not possible to add or take away anything without spoiling it, which shows that excess and deficiency destroy its goodness. The master of any art or activity avoids excess and deficiency, but seeks the intermediate and chooses this relative to the subject, producing excellence and proportion. This is not to say that they aim for the mediocre, which is too much of too little, and lacks balance of form or composition.

Analogy: Intermediate relative to a subject.
If ten pounds of meat is too much to consume in a week, and two pounds too few, then the absolute intermediate amount is six pounds, but this may be too few for a mighty warrior, or too much for a scholar. The cook will instead select the correct amount for each guest, varying it according to their physical disposition and state of health, and prepare it differently each night, with fine spices and condiments.

Some Virtues lie between pairs of Vices

Excellence of moral virtue is akin to excellence in the arts, and thus it also aims at the intermediate. This is true for each of the desires. For instance, fear, confidence, appetite, anger, pity, and in general pleasure and pain may be felt both too much and too little, and in both cases not well. To feel them at the right times, from the right cause, towards the right people, with the right aim, and in the right way, is both intermediate and best. This balancing act is characteristic of all moral excellence. Excellence of moral virtue is thus a kind of mean of desire, between the vices of desiring in excess and deficit. This mean is relative to each entity determined by their disposition and habituation to the virtue.

Contrary Vices

In any pair of vices, we draw more naturally to the one providing pleasure. This vice is more likely to overwhelm the virtue, and thus it is the worse vice of the pair. This vice is said to be contrary to the virtue. This vice can be the excess or deficiency of desire. For example, with Courage, it is deficiency or Cowardice that is more opposed than excess or Rashness, but with Temperance, it is the excess of Self-Indulgence rather than the deficiency of Self-Denial or Frugality that tempts us.

Moral Virtues

The dispositions covered by moral virtues and vices include our instincts, desires, emotions, and the other non-rational parts of our mind. These moral attributes can be trained or habituated towards moderation. Men are born with various degrees of each moral attribute. If a man is born quick-tempered and irascible, he has a predilection or readiness for anger, but through a struggle for mastery, he can overcome his instinct, moderating his irascibility through restraint and habituation, to only express it in appropriate circumstances and degree. A man born even-tempered has not this need to struggle, so is less prone to show vice, but is virtuous through little effort. It is through the struggle towards virtue that one can truly take the measure of a man.

Analogy: The worth of struggle.
By only defeating easy opponents, a swordsman may remain undefeated, but his skill cannot be judged, and will not be as honed as much as the swordsman who repeatedly fights to within an inch of defeat, building up a networks of scars from near-losses, and lessons learned from well-matched opponents. Of course, this man is more likely to be defeated, so deliberately facing unnecessary and dangerous challenges is unwise, whether they be physical or moral. Facing and overcoming great dispositions to vice deserves great praise, for the moral fortitude developed and proven through this will apply to any disposition - it serves to show a capability to deal with vice. However, any man who lives a virtuous life is worthy.

Common Moral Virtues

There are many moral virtues, each with paired extremes of vice. Different peoples may name different elements as virtues; what we call pride, some name hubris, and our accusation of miserliness is elsewhere admired as canniness. To some extent, habituation against temptations (of whatever sort) develops discipline and restraint. However, as only consenting to moral virtues can lead to good intent, there are many admired or desired attributes that are not moral virtues. Here, we only list those attributes commonly held to be moral virtues - identifying the correct or important moral virtues is left for another time. A semantic clue is that we often say a man *has* a virtue, but *is* a vice - he has Courage, but is Rash or a Coward. If both forms of a concept are equally basic, then this approach gives no clue (e.g. Honest, Truth - see Politeness for further discussion of Honesty as a vice).

Virtue	Vice of Excess	Vice of Deficit
Courage	Rash	Coward *
Temperance	Self-Indulgent *	Frugal
Pride	Arrogant	Timid *
Self-image	Vain *	Self-loathing
Direction	Ambitious	Unambitious *
Even Temper	Irascible *	Placid
Wit	Buffoon *	Boor
Imagination	Flighty	Stolid *
Empathy	Hysterical *	Insensitive
Charm	Flattering	Surly *
Modesty	Shameless *	Bashful
Mercy	Weak *	Stern, Cold
Common Sense	Neurotic	Foolish *
* Contrary (stronger) Vice

Other Virtues

Physical, Intellectual and Material virtues differ less between observers than Moral virtues, usually have but one opposite, and are usually weighed collectively within their sphere, rather than individually. All these mean that listing these virtues is less useful.

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Conclusion

Gaining control of the desires of a vice-ridden disposition is an important aid to becoming a good man. However, it is not the essential step in the process. Instead, it is the desires consented to that separate good from evil men. It is expected that a man will have bad desires, even having tamed and disciplined their disposition, emotions and instinctive reactions as best they are able. However, having bad desires is not evil, any more than having the right desires is good. The choice of which desires are consented to is the key determiner of moral right.