Virtue & All Things Moral

Welcome back to Nic’s Thoughts!

My Exams are next week, and I thought a fun way to finish my modules for last semester would be to share some of my favourite topics & debates that I’ve learnt and see your perspectives on them.

We’ll begin in Ancient Greece, the land of Gods with almighty power and Philosophers who questioned their existence. But first, we’ll tackle a different debate before we target myths... or Gods, if that’s your thing.

Our first focus is a favourite for Philosophers; the principles of right and wrong and the standards of behaviour expected in society, aka morals. Having good moral values is important in society, but what are good moral values? Many people will most likely share similar replies, such as loyalty, justice and kindness – having these traits deems you to be a ‘good’ person; you have good moral values. However, the question today is whether you can reach the highest possible version of a morally excellent person by everyone’s standards, and if so, you will have reached Virtue.

Can you define Virtue? At first the answer seems somewhat clear: Virtue is the behaviour of high moral standards – thank you Oxford Dictionary – but what are the highest moral standards? What would you list as the morals which make you virtuous? Think of your top morals that would create the ultimate good version of a person.

Now, what do you think everyone else would say?

Morals are subject of opinion and perspective. They will continuously change and therefore it is difficult to pick out traits which will always make someone virtuous by everyone’s standards.

Plato was a Greek Philosopher during the Classical Period of Ancient Greece, and he wrote Meno in pursuit of the Virtue debate. In this, Meno asks Socrates whether Virtue can be taught, and Socrates asks him to define Virtue. These were three attempts of a definition and Socrates responses:

· Virtue is the power of governing mankind.

This version of reaching virtue is not inclusive. In Ancient Greece, slaves and children, for example, would not have any chance here to reach virtuality. Even now, the likelihood of the everyday person having the power to govern is slim. In the United Kingdom, the chance of becoming an MP alone is about 1 in 96 thousand, there is 1 in 2.7 million chance to become part of Cabinet, and 1 in 62 million in becoming Prime Minister.

Not only this, but power to govern does not necessarily mean justice and good intentions; look at Hitler. Well, I don’t think Socrates said that, but you can’t say it’s not a good point. A position of power can be put into the wrong hands, so this would not work as the definition of Virtue.

· Virtue is to desire what is honourable and be able to procure it.

Desire cannot be a measure of virtue as there are many temptations to which would be seen as evil things, but that doesn’t always make us bad people. Desire is a natural thing which can’t always be controlled, only whether we act on it is something we can have a choice about. It is also difficult to tell what people desire; is someone acting how they desire to or are they acting how society claims they should whilst their mind plays with evils?

Desire is a difficult aspect in all moral dilemmas. Plato argues the highest pursuit in life is to contemplate the good, and within this contemplation we can reach the closest thing to Virtue, whereas Sophists will argue that there is no truth, only opinion, ruled by basic needs and desires rather than reason. Aristotle believes that all people aspire to good and happiness, and this is done through acting intelligently instead of following one’s inclinations via sensual pleasures.

Desire isn’t something measurable enough to base virtue. For me it would more so be the reasoning and the way they act – whether in correspondence with their desires or not. Desires then seem irrelevant altogether. Others would disagree though but it’s not enough to naturally desire good things, because this simply just does not happen and so we’d fall into a category where Virtue is impossible to reach. What’s the point in discussing it in the first place?

There are many possibilities in which desire can be seen, but we are looking for an explanation which fits all perspectives, as to what Virtue is and how to get there.

· Virtue is the ability to procure goods.

This argument is unfinished as we haven’t decided what counts as ‘good’ yet. It’s alike to stating, ‘virtue is whatever is done virtuously’; we’re defining Good and Virtue with the adjective forms of themselves.

So now we’ve reached the Aporia: the dead-end to this discussion. Where do we go from here? Neither me nor you have made any progress in finding the definitive answer…

What would you define Virtue as? I think my greatest attempt would be to list the morals that I believe to be the most important, rather than a certain position or action, as it seems more attainable. These would include loyalty, respect, courage, temperance, honesty and justice. Have we all decided these are our top morals though?

Not only this but, think about it this way: ‘Roundness’ is not figure, but a figure. ‘Blue’ is not colour, but a colour. ‘Two’ is not number, but a number. Honesty is not virtue, but a virtue. And even then, it’s not a virtue we’ve all agreed on so honesty can easily be demoted back to just another moral.

My argument also follows that we are human. I know that seems obvious but hear me out. We act differently in certain situations; we acquire behaviours and beliefs from the lives we are dealt. I find it difficult to believe we can reach ‘Virtue’. There is not a person who can act with the highest moral standards throughout their entire life without mistakes or lash-outs. Morals are a standard created by society to ensure a safer and more cooperative community, but we are all still human. By whose standard can I believe someone is more virtuous than another, where everyone else would also agree? My opinion stands that there is none.

So, can virtue be defined with specific requirements that will not change? Is it something measurable, something that we all can acquire? Or is it too far-fetched to believe that we can reach the ultimate moral tier, known as Virtue?

What is Virtue?

I’d love to hear what you think about this and where you stand on the argument. There are so many different routes you could go down, but I’ve found myself with the same opinion every time. Try to change my mind.

Love & Thoughts,

Nic X