Seneca On Virtue And Wisdom

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.

Virtue is a particular moral excellence, a beneficial quality, or power of a thing, and masculine strength or courage. At the end of the Meno, Socrates states that the hypothesis, "if knowledge is virtue, it can be taught." 1 The

Diligence can first be seen in Seneca’s, “On Liberal and Vocational Studies” in this work Seneca argues that what one gains from a liberal arts education is that this type of education prepares the heart for virtue. This

Next, I will show the 4 kinds of persons that Aristotle believes exist, they’re the virtuous, strong-willed, vicious, and weak-willed persons. The first person is the virtuous person, Aristotle believes that a virtuous person is a person that behaves in a highly well-mannered way. A virtuous person knows how to act as a mean within the deficiency (too little) and excess (too much). “Hence virtue is a sort of medial condition because it is able to aim at and hit the mean.” (2.6 1106b27-1106b28) The virtuous person often does things through habit and continuous practice rather than having someone teach them because it can’t be taught. “From this, it is also clear that none of the virtues of character comes about in you naturally, since nothing natural can be habituated to be otherwise.” (2.1 1103a18-1103a19) Virtuous persons don’t let things overcome who they truly are, meaning their attitudes are at an even level when it comes to pleasures and pains. Virtuous persons can’t let things get the best of them, which is why the mean is so important because it gives balance and clear judgement.

I believe virtue is anything that may be advantageous in one’s own way. It may be good, it may be bad in

Aristotle’s virtue ethics assume that moral virtue is necessary for flourishing, It logically follows, then, that those exhibiting the ordinary vices of domination, despite appearances to the contrary, are far from ever attaining a truly good life. Aristotle’s ethics are too narrow in scope, because any code of ethics should be universally applicable and equal because reinforcing privilege and oppressive structures negatively affect everyone's chances--including the perpetrator’s-- at developing the virtues described in Nicomachean Ethics and therefore negatively affect everyone's chances at leading the best life possible.

Upon laying a foundation regarding the importance of knowledge, Cicero proceeds to expound the practicality of wisdom for the political man, which pertains to promoting community through the application of justice.

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.

In the Meno, Socrates and Meno discuss the nature of virtue, the process of acquiring knowledge, and also the concept of the teachability of virtue. Throughout the text, Meno suggests many varying definitions for virtue, all of which Socrates is able to dismantle. The point is also raised that it may be impossible to know about something that was not previously understood, because the searcher would have no idea what to be looking for. To dispute this, Socrates makes a point that all knowledge is innate, and the process of “learning” is really just recollecting knowledge that is buried deeply within the human mind. The issue of the teachability of virtue is an important theme in this dialogue because it raises points about whether virtue is knowledge, which then leads to the issue of knowledge in general.

To also be a liberal man you must first have respect for your own stuff, not being careless with it by giving it all away but only what is necessary at the right time. This is truly what he meant by it being a “mean” because it is the way of giving where its not giving in excess and its not giving in defect which would be giving to the wrong people; For those things amount to failure in a virtuous sense. One is not born a liberal man, he is created through out life, this brings us back to book one where he speaks of the stone and how it can not be forced to go up with out coming back down or how fire cannot be forced to burn down. If we were all created a liberal man there would be no problems at all and we would all be living on an equal plain. But life isn’t perfect and it will never be that way because were not all the liberal man. Not to sum up Aristotle in one sense but what he is basically trying to say I think is, you are who you make yourself and who you are surrounded with. I could be completely wrong but I feel that this is what he is

Aristotle found that there are two kinds of virtues of the soul. First, there are virtues of thought, such as wisdom. Next, there are virtues of character, such as generosity. The main focus of his virtue ethics lies in the virtues of character. Aristotle assumed that these virtues are learned through habit. For example, whereas intellectual virtue may arise from reading a book, the adoption of virtuous character is inherited solely by practice. Therefore, it is through a person's upbringing that moral virtues are cultivated, and it is through the habit of thinking virtuously that one can excel towards happiness.

In our society today, we are mostly challenged by two questions: ‘is it right to do this or that? And ‘how should I be living in society?’(Bessant, 2009). Similar questions were greatly discussed in the history by our ancestors in their philosophical discussions. The most ancient and long-lasting literature on moral principles and ethics were described by Greek philosopher Aristotle. He had an excellent command on various subjects ranging from sciences to mathematics and philosophy. He was also a student of a famous philosopher. His most important study on ethics, personal morality and virtues is ‘The Nicomachean Ethics’, which has been greatly influencing works of literature in ethics and heavily read for centuries, is believed to be

On the source of virtuousness, both Confucius and Aristotle agree that individuals should undertake self-cultivation of virtue. Aristotlebelieved that virtue was the key to a flourishing life (eudaimonia) and thus for a man to have a flourishing life in society, he must work on his attitudes, habits and behaviors to be acceptable in that society

Aristotle believes that happiness is the ultimate goal in life. You can’t reach happiness unless you work hard and become successful. That is where virtue comes into play. A human’s function is to engage in “an activity of the soul which is in accordance with virtue” and which “is in conformity with reason” (page 76, Palmer). The two kinds of virtue are intellectual and moral. Our virtues are what make us all individual and all different. Intellectual virtues are what we are born with and what we learn. It is our nature as humans and what we have inherited that makes desire to learn. As humans, we develop wisdom to help guide us to a good life. With the intellectual virtue you develop two different kinds of wisdom: practical and

However , acting virtuous is the mean to becoming virtuous . There are conditions for virtue which consist of , having the appropriate inner state , taking pleasure in what your doing , doing it for certainty and firmness , and being aware of what you are dong . If a person performs a virtuous act without the right intentions the act is not longer virtuous . Virtue is acquired through habituation , making or becoming accustom or use to something . A person is not born with virtue , but by nature is capable of achieving and perfecting virtue . The way in which a person habituates virtue is by practicing virtuous acts and initiating virtue at a young age .