Why are virtues important?
Are virtues some kind of special power only extraordinary people have?
I thought about it after reading a very interesting book about how important virtues are to grant the safety of civilians in war zones. According to the writer, virtues are what prevent those who have weapons from becoming bullies or war criminals. In this sense, every soldier is a hero because even having the power to subdue and hurt, they do what is right.
Living in peace is humankind’s most ancient desire. Yet we might accept war when they defend and protect essential human rights. There is no doubt it is necessary sometimes.
WW2 is the perfect example of a necessary war. A genocide was happening, and the world had to stop it. Millions of people died in concentration camps. However, every war is sad and heartbreaking when you see refugees and orphans running away from war zones.
Notwithstanding, wars have the power to cause amazing acts of heroism.
The traditional military virtues of honor, courage, loyalty, integrity, respect
assure a safer environment and avoid dangerous situations when life is at risk. They also prevent abuse, strengthen friendship bonds, and stimulate good actions.
Virtues are essential to a good life in society, according to the Greek philosopher Aristotle in his Nichomaen Ethics. He divides them into two groups, moral virtues, and intellectual virtues.
Now, what is the difference between moral virtues and intellectual virtues?
The moral virtues should not demand effort.
However, the intellectual virtues require dedication to obtain.
How do we know what traits ought to be considered virtues and what are vices?
Aristotle establishes a system where each positive trait stands in the middle of a scale. This way it can be lacking or in excess and both extremes are vice.
Following this idea, the center of his Ethics relies on temperance or moderation. Having too much, or too little of any trait isn’t good.
So, if you have too much bravery you are reckless as if you have too little you are a coward.
In his Ethics, Aristotle emphasizes that such traits if adequate cooperate for the good of an individual, a group of people, and the whole society. The negative traits or vices do the opposite.
Aristotle’s moral virtues
- Bravery — courage
- Temperance — moderation
- Liberality — spending
- Magnificence — charisma, style
- Magnanimity — generosity
- Ambition — pride
- Patience — temper, calm
- Friendliness — social IQ
- Truthfulness — honesty, candidness
- Wit — humor, joy
- Modesty — ego
- Justice — a sense of right/wrong, indignation
Knowledge and wisdom are intellectual virtues.
Virtue ethics is the frame of religious texts, companies’ codes of conduct, college and school rules, Constitutions, Agreements, and the United Nations Assembly speeches.
The Virtues in the Book of Vedas
make a much larger list than the virtues listed in this text. However, it is possible to see the summary of them in Bhagavad-gita as follows:
“Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wisdom and religiousness — these are the natural qualities by which the Brahmanas work”
“Heroism, power, determination, resourcefulness, courage in battle, generosity, and leadership are the natural qualities of work for the Kshatriyas.”
The path to Enlightenment
is a pillar of Buddhism and aims at achieving the four immeasurable states of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.
This path of Moral and Spiritual growth demand you keep away actions moved by greed, ignorance, and hatred that poison the soul.
They hinder spiritual growth and make it impossible to reach the four immeasurable states. So, to counteract the poisons, the practitioners must dedicate their lives to generosity, morale, discipline, forbearance, vigor, meditation, and wisdom.
Confucio values are self-discipline, self-cultivation, and self-growth.
The set of Confucio virtues became very popular as inspiration for Corporate social responsibility seminars. They make the basis for many companies’ internal rules and codes of conduct.
The Seven Virtues of the Roman Catholic Church
appeared much later, in the year AD 590, when pope Gregory I released a famous list. The seven deadly sins.
According to the Roman Catholic doctrine, the weapon against the sins or vices is cultivating the seven spiritual virtues that represent their opposing force. They are chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility.
The Virtues in the Islamic Religion
The Quran and the Hadith portray virtues as traits of character. The structure of Islamic morality has kindness and charity as the strongest of them. So, besides the focus on helping people in times of need the Islamic faith also has forgiveness, respect for parents and the elderly, keeping one’s word, showing kindness to animals, enduring adversity with patience, preserving justice, honesty, and showing control over anger.
The virtues in the Bible
The Apostle Paul in the First Letter to the Thessalonians 1:3, declares “…calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope…”
The Bible virtues are Faith, Hope, and Charity. They are called theological virtues because their aim is the divine Being or theos. They come from God himself as a gift to humankind.
As much as the subject might seem religious, academic research dedicates time to the subject too.
Virtues are part of Cognitive Psychology studies.
Howard Gardner,
the man who developed the theory of Multiple Intelligences (See video in this post) is also the acclaimed Harvard cognitive psychology professor author of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness — Educating for the Virtues in the Age of Truthiness and Twitter reinforces the importance of virtues and ethics as an anti-poison against a society that stimulates self-aggrandizement and profit.
According to Howard, the relativization of what is true, what is beautiful, and what is good, comes from the abandonment of those traits. He defends a stern point of view.
Moral virtues stand against the goal-oriented materialistic life of nowadays society.
But Virtues are not only a matter of religious interest or of science studies. They are essential to Military life.
Peter Olsthoorn,
the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands, in his book, Military Ethics and Virtues: An Interdisciplinary Approach for the 21st Century offers the point of view of how the military action must rely on ethics and virtues as the essential basis for their presence in conflict areas. The troops need it in their interaction with civilians, their fellow soldiers, and as support for their minds to endure the hardships.
The importance of moral virtues to society is clear.
And why are intellectual virtues important?
The Intellectual Virtues do not differ much from moral virtues. However, as the first group is food for the soul, intellectual virtues are the mind’s food. Wisdom, truth, understanding, and knowledge must be part of life as much as moral virtues.
One of the most acclaimed book on the matter is Cultivating Good Minds.
Jason Baehr
puts the Intellectual virtues into three main groups. The first group comprises three characteristics that motivate learning. They are curiosity, intellectual autonomy, and humility.
Curiosity is a necessity in the search for truth and wisdom.
Intellectual Autonomy is essential to preserve truthfulness. The individual will follow the thoughts of groups or other people Without it. Then the danger of suffering manipulation will put real understanding at risk.
The last one is humility, neccessary to make people conscious improvement is always possible.
This second group helps you to achieve learning: attentiveness, carefulness, and thoroughness.
In the third group, he enumerates the ones destined to overcome obstacles in the learning process. They are open-mindedness, courage to face the consequences that knowledge, truth, and understanding bring into life, and tenacity because learning demands perseverance and determination.
The Holistic Approach to virtues
opens the door to the perception of what virtues mean for a healthy, happy existence. After so many centuries of human dedication to the betterment of life, we are aware we are mind, body, and soul.
Through understanding this truth, the intricacies of philosophical thinking become simple.
As every religion declares, and as authors of different walks of life recognize, virtues are the framework for a life of accomplishments, happiness, and satisfaction.
The actions of every individual affect not only their personal life but the entirety of society.
Gathering so many sources of knowledge, we can make a list of virtues very alike in their essence. We find different terms but the same purpose. They are not ranked in the order of popularity, preferences, or opinion, but make a consesus of what humans need to thrive and be happy as individuals or group.
1. Generosity, Goodness (they refer to helping people in times of need)
2. Discipline, Determination (keeping the mind the body, and the soul working as one)
3. Forbearance, Understanding, Forgiveness (controlling yourself when dealing with others)
4. Vigor, Heroism, Courage in battle, Preserving justice, Power, Honor, Leadership (Dedication to the good of many)
5. Honesty, Truth
6. Kindness
7. Peacefulness
8. Temperance, self-control
9. Patience
10. Purity
11. Humility
12. Resourcefulness
13. Diligence
14. Austerity
15. Knowledge
16. Respect for parents and elderly
17. Showing kindness to animals
18. Enduring adversity with patience
19. Loyalty
20. Wisdom
So the answer to our question is virtues are empowering, but they are not a super power. They are empowering because they transform reality around you. You don’t need to be a superhero. However, becoming an everyday hero is not only possible; it is the framework for success, happiness and a better world.
I write to bring awareness and I write fantasy because one of those virtues is kindness. Providing nice moments of relaxation is kind and thoughtful.
If you are into dark fantasy I decided to rewrite my first book. Almost ten years after its success on Amazon and lots of pirate versions, I am uploading some chapters that were not in the first version on Wattpad and Webnovel.
I leave you the links.
Feel free to check and make comments.
THE KNAAST HEIR
On Webnovel
https://bit.ly/2TrkN55
On Wattpad
https://cutt.ly/vnSXYYL
