VIRTUE, John Paul Vemo S.

VIRTUE: The term 'virtue' derives from the Latin word 'virtus' which
means 'power'. Virtue is moral excellence. Virtue is a behavior
showing a high moral standard and is a pattern of thought and behavior
based on high moral standards.
The good traits of character are called the virtues. Virtues are those
qualities or habits of human character which men admire and value.
They make for the survival and the welfare of the group and are
therefore often deliberately cultivated. A virtue is a habitual
organization of impulses and desires around some idea or object. It is
an attitude or a type of action that merits moral approval.
Virtue, in its most transcendental sense, means the excellence of a
thing according to its kind. Thus it is the virtue of the eye to see,
nose to smell, ear to hear, etc. From the ethical standpoint, virtue
is a habit that a person has got of doing moral good, or doing that
which it befits his rational nature to do. Vices do not make a man
guilty, nor do virtues make him innocent. A man is guilty or innocent
according to his acts and not according to his habits.
The name virtue is given to certain habits residing in the
intellects, as intuition or insight, wisdom, science and art. These
are called intellectual virtues. It was a peculiarity of Socrates'
teaching to make all virtue intellectual, a doctrine expressed in the
formula, Virtue is knowledge. No act is virtuous that is elicited
quite mechanically, or at the blind instance of passion. To be
virtuous, the thing must be done on principle, that is, at the dictate
of reason and by the light of intellect.
Virtue is not knowledge. Virtue by its very nature of the word
implies some perfection of power. The changing social conditions make
it difficult to set forth any complete list of virtues. The Greeks
sought excellence of character as well as order and symmetry in
external form. Practically all the Greeks accepted justice, wisdom,
courage, and self control or temperance as the fundamental virtues.
For Plato these are the cardinal virtues, in gist, they were wisdom
for the rulers, courage for the warriors, self control for the
workers, and justice, the highest virtue, combines the other virtues
into a harmonious whole.