Theology is The Science of God
Totus Tuus, inspired by Pope John Paul II, means "Totally Yours". Totus
Tuus brings us to live Radically Committed for God and to
follow his Commandments and to live Virtuous Lives.
Peter Kreeft, in his book
Back to Virtue, has two questions for us:
Is virtue out of date?
Is our civilization at risk-whatever became
of virtue?
C.S. Lewis said, "I
feel" replaced "I believe". Peter Kreeft believes,
"Ethics without Virtue is Illusion!"
What is the highest purpose of ethics? It
is to make people good, that is virtuous. Without a road map of the
virtues and vices, how likely is it that we will find our way home,
especially if we are lost? And the one thing nearly everyone knows is
that modern man is lost. They say, God's word says that "faith without
works is dead". The works of virtue are the fruit of faith, that is, of
a lived faith.
Character and Virtue
Modern virtue ethics takes its inspiration from the Aristotelian
understanding of character and virtue. Aristotelian character is,
importantly, about a state of being. It's about having the appropriate
inner states, e.g. the virtue of kindness involves the right sort of
emotions and inner states with respect to our feelings towards others.
Character is also about doing. Aristotelian theory is a theory of
action, since having the virtuous inner dispositions will also involve
being moved to act in accordance with them. Realizing that kindness is
the appropriate response to a situation and feeling appropriately kindly
disposed, will also lead to a corresponding attempt to act kindly.
Another distinguishing feature of virtue
ethics is that character traits are stable, fixed and reliable
dispositions. If an agent possesses the character trait of kindness, we
would expect her to act kindly in all sorts of situations, even when it
is difficult to do so, towards all kinds of people, and do so reliably
over a long period of time. A person with a certain character then, can
be relied upon to act consistently over a time.
It is important to recognize that moral
character develops over a long period of time. People are born with all
sorts of natural tendencies. Some of these natural tendencies will be
positive, such as a placid and friendly nature, and some will be
negative, such as an irascible and jealous nature. These natural
tendencies are encouraged and developed, or equally could be discouraged
and thwarted, by the influences one is exposed to when growing up. There
are a number of factors which may affect one's character development
such as one's parents, teachers, peer group, role-models, the degree of
encouragement and attention one receives, exposure to different
situations and situations of varying degree of difficulty, etc. Our
natural tendencies, the 'raw material' we are born with, are shaped and
developed through a long and gradual process of education and
habituation.
Moral education and development is a major
part of virtue ethics. Moral development, at least in its early stages,
relies on the availability of good role models. The virtuous agent acts
as a role model for what is good and the student of virtue emulates his
example. Initially this is a process of habituating oneself in the right
action. Aristotle advises us to perform just acts as this way we become
just. The student of virtue must develop the right habits, so that he
tends to perform virtuous acts. Thus, he his behavior is, to an extent,
reliable. However, virtue is not itself habit. Habituation is an aid to
the development of virtue, but true virtue requires choice,
understanding and knowledge. The virtuous agent doesn't just act justly
out of habit, an unreflective response, but has come to recognize the
value of virtue and why it is the appropriate response. Virtue is
chosen, chosen knowingly and chosen for its own sake.
This long and gradual process of moral
character development may take as long as a whole life-time, but once an
agent's character is firmly established and we can depend on her to act
consistently and predictably in a variety of situations then that agent
is the virtuous agent.
Aristotelian virtue is defined in Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics as a
purposive disposition, lying in a mean and being determined by the right
reason and by what the virtuous agent would use to determine it. Virtue
is a settled disposition because it is a character trait and we have
just discussed how character traits are established over a long time,
but once developed are stable, persistent and reliable dispositions.
However, it is also a purposive disposition. This means that virtue is
done knowingly and selected for its own sake. Acting virtuously is not
the same as acting habitually, where this might involve an unreflective
action, or acting my accident or in ignorance. So virtue is not only a
reliable disposition to act in a certain way, but one which the agent
needs to choose, choose knowingly and choose for its own sake. It is not
enough to act kindly by accident, or unthinkingly or because everyone
else is doing so, you must act kindly because you recognize that this is
the right way to behave. Note here that although habituation is a tool
for character development it is not equivalent to virtue, virtue
requires conscious choice and affirmation.
The idea that virtue lies in a mean,
relates to the argument that the right act varies in each situation and
with respect to each person. Virtue is the appropriate response, a
response that can vary in order to take into account different
situations and different agents. The virtues are associated with
feelings. The most common example is courage; courage has to do with
fear, but other examples from the Nicomachean Ethics include the virtue
of modesty which is associated with the feeling of shame, the virtue of
friendliness associated with feelings about social conduct, etc. The
virtue lies in a mean, because it involves displaying the mean amount of
emotion, where mean stands for appropriate (This does not imply that the
right amount is a modest amount. Sometimes 'quite a lot' may be the
appropriate amount of emotion to display as in the case of righteous
indignation.) The mean amount, the right amount, is neither too much nor
too little and it must be sensitive to the requirements of the person
and the situation (more on this in the next section).
Finally, virtue is determined by the right
reason. Virtue requires the right desire and the right reason. To act
from the wrong reason is to act viciously, the agent has failed to
perceive the good. On the other hand, the agent can try to act from the
right reason, but fail because she has the wrong desire, in which case
she is weak-willed. The virtuous agent acts effortlessly, perceiving the
right reason and having the harmonious right desire, his inner state of
virtue flows smoothly into action. Crucially, the virtuous agent here
can act as an exemplar or an ideal of virtue; someone we can look to in
order to observe virtue in action.
It is important to recognize that this is a
most perfunctory account of ideas which are developed in great detail in
Aristotle, but they are related briefly here as they have been central
to virtue ethics' claim to put forward a unique and rival account to
other normative theories. Modern virtue ethicists have developed their
theories around a central role for character and virtue and claim that
this gives them a unique understanding of morality. The emphasis on
character development and the role of the emotions allows virtue ethics
to have a plausible account of moral psychology, lacking from deontology
and consequentialism. Virtue ethics can avoid the problematic concepts
of duty and obligation, in favor of the rich concept of virtue.
Judgments of virtue are judgments of character, of a whole life, rather
than judgments of one isolated action.
Objections to Virtue
Ethics is simply Self-Centeredness, Action-Guiding, and Moral Luck!
One Final Point:
Virtue is necessary for the survival of
civilization
Religion is necessary for the survival of
virtue
Therefore,
religion is necessary for the
survival of civilization
(look at
civilizations that went corrupt such as the Greek and Roman eras.)
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