Virtue and Vice: Understanding Human Nature
The word virtue comes from the Latin vir, meaning strength. In Greek, it is arete, which also signifies excellence. Arete is related to the god Ares, who is the personification of force.
In contrast, the Greek word for vice is kaki, meaning bad or evil. Another Greek word used is lathes, which means disease or passion. These words indicate that the possessor of virtue is strong, while the one with vice is weak and sick. They also suggest that acquiring virtue requires effort, whereas vice is acquired without effort. Ethics, as a branch of philosophy, has the function of detecting and eliminating these vices.
According to Greek wisdom, there are three great pathos in man. These pathos appear in Plato’s allegory of the cave, and he states that we are born with them:
1. Pathos of Soma: Greed
Man needs his soma (body), uses it, cares for it, and dresses it with dignity. However, one should not live for the body alone, but rather as one who cannot live without it. The pathos of soma is greed, whose root is the compulsive drive for everything: pleasures, desires, skills, things, money. As Seneca said, “there is no vice that has no godfather.” From greed arise: consumerism, love of food, impatience, laziness, excessive curiosity of the five senses, distraction, triviality, lack of control in sexuality, a taste for appearances, lack of hospitality, ingratitude, and other related vices.
2. Pathos of the Psyche: Arrogance
The disease that attacks the psyche (mind/soul) is arrogance, whose root is the inclination or instinct to assert oneself. From arrogance derive anger, manifested or disguised under the desire to assert one’s own opinion, the intention to have the last word, and the urge to teach and give advice to others. This manifests itself in aggression in language and a love for discord and debate. Other fruits of arrogance include pride, which comes from the desire to be recognized, valued, have a good reputation, receive honor, show off one’s qualities to be praised by others, and the desire for success and fame. From pride derive stupidity and lack of discernment. Finally, the third fruit of arrogance is stubbornness, manifested in disobedience to laws and authorities, believing one knows everything, anger at not being taken into account, excessive trust in one’s own strength and wisdom, refusal and inability to learn and listen, and the belief of being above others and not needing anyone.
3. Pathos of Pneuma: Ignorance
Ignorance comes from the Greek word ignoia (nous), meaning cruelty, error, stubbornness, rudeness, and injustice. The disease affecting the pneuma (spirit) is ignorance, whose root is falsehood. This is presented in the form of deception, fraud, lying, concealment, hypocrisy, slander, flattery, false tolerance, dissimulation, blindness to the reality of oneself, the desire to be liked, and hiding one’s own flaws. From ignorance arise malice, lack of awareness, envy, resentment, hatred, lack of compassion, atheism, and lack of freedom.
These are the three main pathos of man: greed, arrogance, and ignorance, which are implicitly described in Plato’s allegory of the cave through the chains on the feet, neck, and shadows. The strategy of philosophy is to know and fight them through virtues, thus freeing man from them, so that he may be healthy and without trauma.
Virtue
Aristotle distinguishes two kinds of virtues:
- Dianoetic virtues (intellectual): phronesis (prudence), nous (intelligence), and sophia (wisdom)
- Ethical virtues (character): sophrosine (moderation), andreia (courage), dikaiosine (justice)
Aristotle defined virtue as a way of being selective, a mean for us, determined by reason and by how a prudent man would decide. It is a midpoint between two vices: one of excess and the other of deficiency.
The text states that the mean, according to Aristotle, is the virtue that is relative to us, not the geometric center, but rather a midpoint based on the condition of each person. It is always moving and looks at the unnatural impulses of each individual. However, the mean is not entirely relative but depends on the severity of the pathos of a particular man.
It is prudence that examines each and every act of man, setting the mean between excess and defect.
According to Aristotle, ethical virtue is an attitude born of decision, and habit is something that is acquired, not inborn. However, it is not unnatural and has nothing to do with good wishes. The acquisition of virtue, according to him, is as hard and requires the same effort, skill, and patience as learning any technical skill. The virtues of character are born of practice, so he advised their education in childhood and youth, because this is where the habit of the four Greek ethical virtues is most rapidly rooted. These virtues correspond to the three parts of the human psyche:
- Epithymia – sophrosine (moderation)
- Psyche – thymos – andreia (courage)
- Logos – phronesis (prudence)
- dikaiosine (justice)
Greek ethical virtues are psychic virtues but are expressed in the soma of man as follows: sophrosine is manifested somatically in inner physical beauty, andreia in physical strength, phronesis in regulation, and dikaiosine in physical health.