The title comes from a book by Sociologist Robert Bellah. It is a good description of virtues. I am starting a new blog series about virtues, which will be interspersed with my more usual focus on holidays and culture and occasionally even economics. I discovered virtue ethics in seminary, and it helped me understand the limited focus of traditional ethics, which is how to determine what is the right thing to do. Utilitarians want us to do what offers the greatest good for the greatest number. Kantians urge us to follow an ethic of duty, which my ethics students reduced to the question, ”But what if everybody did it?” (lied, stole, littered…). Armed with these two tools, ethics challenges people to make decisions that honor one or both of these principles.
But something was missing. It was the question, “What makes people want to do the right thing?” The answer to that question lies in virtue ethics. Or as Alfred B. Newman might have said, “Why be good?” And the answer from virtue ethics is, because you will be happier, have more friends and better relations, and the world will be a better place—especially if everybody did it.
The Greek word that Aristotle used, arete, is sometimes translated as virtue, but a more accurate translation is excellence. He believed that every virtue/excellence lies at a golden mean between its opposite and its extreme. Courage, for example, lies between cowardice (its opposite) and foolhardiness (its extreme). He also believed that the cultivation and exercise of virtue should lead to a richer and more meaningful life for the individual, the community, and society at large.
There are lots and lots of virtues. Auguste Comte-Sponville, a French ethicist, listed seventeen. Aristotle had at least that many. But Aristotle focused on four that he considered primary, two for private life, two for public life. I’m pretty sure I’m not as smart as Aristotle, but I do have several millennia more of human experience to draw on in expanding his brilliant insight. Three spheres, not two—the individual, the community, the world.. And the virtues we require are, as Aristotle observed, different for those three sphere’s: personal virtues, relational virtues, and civic virtues.
Personal virtues are those qualities of character that make it easier to live with ourselves. Aristotle offered only two that were primary for our personal lives: prudence (wise management of resources) and temperance or moderation. I would add diligence, patience, mindfulness. and self-awareness. Unlike relational or civic virtues, these six qualities of character primarily benefit us personally and directly in living richer, more meaningful and satisfying lives.
A prudent person is neither careless nor obsessive in the use of money and other resources, but gives it due attention, rather than hoarding or extravagance. A moderate or temperate person avoids the extremes of self-indulgence and asceticism. A diligent person is neither a goof-off nor a workaholic. A patient person avoids both endless procrastination and obsessive insistence on doing it NOW. A mindful person pays close attention to what she is doing in the moment, rather than focusing on the future or the past or being easily distracted. A self-aware person is cognizant of his gifts and strengths, limitations, and weaknesses, avoiding the extremes of pride and self-abasement.
That’s a pretty comprehensive list. I tend to be both impatient and easily distracted, so I have work on patience and mindfulness. I also need to work at self-awareness. On the other hand, I am reasonably prudent, moderate in most things, and generally diligent at carrying out my personal responsibilities. At least, that’s what I think I am. Periodically I need to check with friends and family members to see if they affirm or question my self-assessment!
Having identified my areas that need improvement, I am working on mindful eating, avoiding multi-tasking, and meditation to become more mindful. I have been keeping a journal for at least 25 years, and I have a friend whose task it is to find them and burn them when I die, because they are a tool for my self-awareness, not a record for future generations. As for patience, other people are pretty good at reminding me to slow down and let things unfold at their own pace.
How about you? That’s your ‘homework” for this week. Which of these six personal virtues are your firmly established good habits of the heart and which ones could stand some work?
Sometime in the near future, expect Installment #2, when we will take a look at virtues that matter in relationships. (Patience gets a second chance there!)
PurpleSage41 