VIRTUES Jithin Mathew P.

Virtues

Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality
subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a
foundation of principle and good moral being. Personal virtues are
characteristics valued as promoting individual and collective well
being. The opposite of virtue is vice.Virtue is a behavior showing a
high moral standard and is a pattern of thought and behavior based on
high moral standards. Virtues can be placed into a broader context of
values. Each individual has a core of underlying values that
contribute to his or her system of beliefs, ideas and/or opinions (see
value in semiotics). Integrity in the application of a value ensures
its continuity and this continuity separates a value from beliefs,
opinion and ideas. In this context, a value (e.g., Truth or Equality
or Creed) is the core from which we operate or react. Societies have
values that are shared among many of the participants in that culture.
An individual's values typically are largely, but not entirely, in
agreement with his or her culture's values.
In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle defined a virtue as a balance
point between a deficiency and an excess of a trait. The point of
greatest virtue lies not in the exact middle, but at a golden mean
sometimes closer to one extreme than the other. For example, courage
is the mean between cowardice and foolhardiness, confidence the mean
between self-deprecation and vanity, and generosity the mean between
miserliness and extravagance. It requires common-sense smarts, not
necessarily extreme intelligence, to find this golden mean. In
Aristotle's sense, it is excellence at being human, a skill which
helps a person survive, thrive, form meaningful relationships and find
happiness. Learning virtue is usually difficult at first, that if
virtue was synonymous with wisdom then it could be taught.
Virtue is a behavior showing a high moral standard and is a pattern of
thought and behavior based on high moral standards. Virtues can be
placed into a broader context of values. Each individual has a core of
underlying values that contribute to his or her system of beliefs,
ideas or opinions. Integrity in the application of a value ensures its
continuity and this continuity separates a value from beliefs, opinion
and ideas. In this context, a value is the core from which we operate
or react.