Exploring Seneca Meaning Of Virtue Essay

Much like the ancient philosopher Socrates, Seneca the young strived to uphold the idea of ethical knowledge. Not going solely after ones desires it is better to be guided by reason to truly live a happy life. The idea of virtue and the liberal studies are the key points of Seneca’s letter “On Liberal and Vocational Studies”. In Seneca’s famous letter “On Liberal and Vocational Studies”, the only way to establish virtue is through the liberal study of wisdom. The effects of having virtue can be seen through harmony, temperance, and kindness.

Aristotle argues that virtue, which is a trained faculty of habit, leads to happiness. This follows that the act of choosing a thing that makes a person good results in happiness. Equilibrium and moderation of virtues lead to happiness and contemplation, which involves discovering, and refining virtues assist individuals to be happy. In contrast, Mill provides that moral actions promote the achievement of happiness. Actions are right if they tend to promote happiness and wrong if they produce pain or suffering. Mill notes that the achievement of virtuous living can be considered happiness.

     When talking about happiness and goodness, there must be an important quality present. According to Aristotle, people need to practice balance and moderation in their every day lives. Achieving this middle ground, or mean, translates into being virtuous in Aristotle’s mind. If virtue is present, so is its opposite vise. For every virtue, there are two vices. One vice is excessive while the other is deficiency. Courage works as a great example because it is virtuous. The excessive vise is recklessness and the

To support Aquinas’ claim that money, honor, fame, power, goods of the body, or pleasure is not required for human happiness, one may cite they share ends for the sake of human beings. That is, their ends are meant only to fulfill human capacities

The perspective of Seneca represented in this letter is one of equality and how the master should be treating his slaves how he would like to be treated by them. This is a progressive viewpoint, perhaps stemming from the fact that Seneca did not want Romans to have a negative reputation when it came to the treatment of slaves. This is shown through the quote “we Romans are excessively haughty, cruel, and insulting.” Seneca explains that we should see slaves as freeborn men like Roman masters are because slaves should respect and not fear their master.

Among the virtues, Cicero grants precedence to the fellowship of men and deems justice “the most illustrious of the virtues, on account of which men are called ‘good’” (9). Consequently, Cicero enumerates in detail the ways in which one can exemplify this virtue, so as to be considered a good man. The duties of justice concern themselves “with preserving fellowship among men, with assigning to each his own, and with faithfulness to agreements one has made” (7). For the political man, maintaining community among citizens is the foremost duty of justice. As to the subliminal caveat for the populace, which allows one to determine the justness of a man, Cicero posits, “on the question of keeping faith, you must always think of what you meant, not of what you said” (18). Furthermore, of injustice, Cicero asserts, “nothing deserves punishment more than that of men who, just at the time when they are most betraying trust, act in such a way that they might appear to be good men” (19). This interpolation, as Cicero completes the doctrine concerning justice, portends the purpose of his third virtue.

In the Republic of Plato, the philosopher Socrates lays out his notion of the good, and draws the conclusion that virtue must be attained before one can be good. For Socrates there are two kinds of virtue; collective and individual. Collective virtue is virtue as whole, or the virtues of the city. Individual virtue pertains to the individual himself, and concerns the acts that the individual does, and concerns the individual’s soul. For Socrates, the relationship between individual and collective virtue is that they are the same, as the virtues of the collective parallel those of the Individual. This conclusion can be reached as both the city and the soul deal with the four main virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice.

But only philosophy will wake us." - Seneca (Lii) Pg. 102 In this passage Seneca makes it clear that our failures blind us and that the vices of the world put us to sleep, make us unaware of what truth is, even unaware of the fact that we are asleep. Philosophy is the only thing capable of waking us, making us aware of the finer things in life, the eternal and ethereal things when discovered make all other mortal pursuits pale in

All through history, many people have tried to achieve wisdom. One of Seneca’s readings, “On Liberal and Vocational Studies” portrays wisdom and how liberal art studies help aid to accomplish this. He continues to explain that any person with the determination to learn about it can seize wisdom. Wisdom can be acquired through not only liberal studies but also individual studies and experiences a person has been through.

In other words, one could be cheerful and with high moral standards in any profitable environment. On the other hand, Seneca letter on liberal and vocational learning was the only letter recognized as the moral epistle. In the letter, Seneca makes the effort to describe liberal studies and distinct it from vocational training. During the days of Seneca, liberal training is designed for liberal or someone who is a free person. With regard to its existing, Seneca never felt eager to protect pursuing literature, music, geometry, astronomy, and argues that by doing so it makes people become a

In order to explain the fundamentals of Aristotle's Virtue Ethics, one must acknowledge his primary motive in this study, which is to understand what it means to live well. Unlike

Many philosophers through history have dealt with happiness, pleasure, justice, and virtues. In this essay there will given facts on virtues between two philosophers who have different views on the topic. Aristotle and Kant have two totally different views on virtue, one being based on the soul and how you character depicts you virtue and the other which is based of the fact that anyone has a chance of being morally good, even bad people. There is a lot of disagreement between Aristotle and Kant, which has examples to back the disagreements. Aristotle takes virtue as an excellence, while Kant takes it more to being a person doing something morally good in the society and for them as a person. One similarity between these two philosophers though, is that these two descriptions of virtue lead back to happiness in the individual. At the end of this essay, the reader should be capable of understanding that Aristotle’s theory is more supported than Kant’s theory. Of course, explanations for both sides will be given thoroughly throughout this comparison.

There are certain truths of the world that cannot be ignored or overlooked. Many philosophers have spent countless years discussing, debating and evaluating such truths. One such influential philosopher is Socrates. Born in Athens in 469 B.C.E, he spent most of his time at the marketplace and other public places engaging in dialogues about truths of life. Among many other things, he discussed virtue and happiness and how closely they are related. According to Socrates, virtue is absolutely necessary for perfect happiness because virtue brings a type of happiness that other things could never bring. In this paper, I will explain the aforementioned idea of Socrates on virtue and happiness and through evidence from Plato's Apology which is

In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics he accounts that humans should make sacrifices and should ultimately aim first and foremost for their own happiness . In the paper I will argue that it is really in a person’s best interest to be virtuous . I will do this by first describing Aristotle’s notion on both eudaimonia and virtue , as well as highlighting the intimate relationship between the two . Secondly I will talk about the human role in society. Thirdly I will describe the intrinsic tie between human actions . Finally I will share the importance of performing activities virtuously .

Born in 1 BCE, Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Stoic philosopher whose writings cover a vast range of topics concerning the human experience. The public’s conception of stoicism as a school of philosophy predominantly focused on “embracing misfortune without complaint” is somewhat distorted from the actual beliefs its outstanding figures held. Seneca’s approach to ethics caught my interest, after thinking over his arguments, I found myself agreeing with much of what he had to say, that is if I interpreted it correctly. I believe the principles espoused by the stoics to be particularly relevant over the past century. The 1920’s is often associated as an age of materialism, an unsustainable time-period inundated with mass-consumption and fixated on pleasure. Perhaps it is not as extreme as then nowadays, I would not know for I was not alive; however, it feels like we are in a similar climate. Everyone wants the newest products, the new iPhone that comes out every year, that new pair of shoes, that new videogame system, that new watch, or that new house, etc. Although we have yet to reach the world described by Aldous Huxley in that of the literary classic “Brave New World,” which depicts a society constructed upon drowning in excess consumption of sex and soma, where John, the savage, is perceived as a lunatic for his quaint habits of being virtuous. More interesting, is the growing desire to be happy, this is shown by the increasing amounts of literature and social science