Thursday, October 8, 2009

The Nature of VIrtue

This blog will involve the nature of virtue with selected students.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey, do you think you can have something can only be said to be a virtue if it is possessed by someone in a virtuous way? Can bravery only be a virtue insofar as someone has obtained and maintained it with effort?

Alex The Tutor said...

'He is so brave, covering that infant from the line of fire.' Do we really need to know the context of that action to declare him brave?

'But it was done so effortlessly. The man just tripped and landed on the infant and decided not to get up. He didn't even know there was a baby underneath him!' In one sense, we would not hesitate to call his actions brave, and we could imagine that he would receive great accolades for his efforts, however effortless they were. He could be remembered for al time as possessing virtue. Perception is reality.

'But, what if some generation discovers the truth and denounces him for never telling us the real story?' And suppose he intentionally withheld the real story in order to create a myth about himself. He did this not to be immortalized as the keeper of bravery, but to give the people of future generations a story they can treasure, a story they can conjure unknown inner strength. We can even say that obtaining and maintaining bravery for his entire life was practically effortless: just smile and nod.

The accident becomes a virtue. 'Virtue is neither created nor destroyed; it just is'. As if there is a pot of virtue for us to share. Hypothesis: he has virtue. Experiment: time. Results: we know the truth, he never had it. Conclusion: he has it now. Virtue is nothing but a hypothesis one has of another.

'But, the effort. The effort!' Sure, you are correct. Pondering the essence of virtue is itself quite virtuous. So, don't let me stop you obtaining your virtue.