essay about values and virtues

The Importance of Values and Virtues

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Values are the main beliefs of a person, which can either be their lifetime goal or represent their preferred behavior. These features have a significant impact on the way a person acts and their attitude. To further illustrate this concept in a more detailed manner, I will refer to a couple of the values I follow, while depicting a situation when I have broken them. Afterward, I will depict a situation where I happened to have broken them.

For my example, I will use two out of the ten motivational values listed by Schwartz and his colleagues. Said values may be differentiated by referring to two pairs of opposite dimensions: conservation and openness to change, self-transcendence, and self-enhancement (Lecture 2, n. d.). I am a strong supporter of benevolence and universalism; unfortunately, there was one case when I failed to follow these values that I consider to be important.

One day, my friend needed my help with a project for her job assignment. Unfortunately, due to a conflict that had happened before it, I instantly declined the request. During that time, I had no regard for the possible outcome of the event. However, as expected, my reluctance to help my friend with the project resulted in her losing the opportunity to get a raise at her job.

By doing so, I had broken the two aforementioned virtues: benevolence and universalism. My friend’s well-being at the time did not matter to me, as it normally would have, thus, violating benevolence (Lecture 2, n. d.). Since our conflict mattered more to me than the possible outcome of my not helping my friend, I had no regard for universalism at the time. This, in turn, is a prime example of a conflict between two opposite dimensions: self-transcendence versus self-enhancement. I have chosen power and hedonism (pleasing my hurt feelings and putting my friend in a fragile position) over benevolence and universalism.

The aforementioned situation raises the question of how I would support these values. Understandably, the conflict makes my claim quite questionable, as I had failed to follow my beliefs in that case. Fortunately, a few weeks after the conflict, I experienced two situations, where I used the opportunity to uphold these values. These two events, in a way, helped me redeem myself after what had happened.

One day, I came across a situation where my coworker needed my help in creating some contracts for his assignment. While I had some errands to finish myself, I couldn’t decline the request, so I agreed. Although my colleague’s assignment was quite hard, I successfully finished it. This, in turn, resulted in him getting an impressive raise. By doing so, I managed to uphold one of the two values: benevolence.

One week later, my coworkers and I were at a group meeting with our boss. The goal of the meeting was to brainstorm some ideas for our future project. One of my colleagues suggested an idea that I did not like, for I found it quite ridiculous. As she was sitting by the same desk next to me, she asked me if I had any ideas. Having heard my idea, my coworker told me that it was too dangerous for the future of the company and provided a reasonable explanation for this opinion. Thus, I chose not to suggest my idea to protect the company and uphold another value: universalism.

The importance of values can be defined by the role they play in one’s life. They represent realistic goals that help a person navigate through their life. Moreover, values assist people in differentiating right from wrong and help them make ethical decisions. In the two aforementioned situations, I successfully followed my two values: universalism and benevolence. These two beliefs will assist me in becoming a better person and prevent me from making the wrong decisions.

Lecture 2 – Values, Virtues and Character. (n. d.) PowerPoint.

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Values and Virtues

Updated 03 June 2022

Subject Behavior

Downloads 52

Category Philosophy ,  Psychology ,  Sociology

Topic Conformity ,  Society ,  Virtue

Virtues are described in a given institution or community as conforming to a standard of moral or correct excellence, whereas values are regarded as culturally accepted norms. Values are, in turn, the commonly accepted and appropriate ways of behaving associated with particular performance. Workplace principles, for example, play an important role in defining the guidelines or boundaries for the actions of employees. As such, the organizational principles are part and parcel of the business that drives the output of the company. Since principles are integrated as part of business goals, virtues act as the instrument to achieve these goals. Therefore, virtues are characteristics of an individual, which support collective well-being and moral excellence. They are mainly the innate qualities that do not always align with societal or organizational values (Baer, 2015). It is, however, of the essence to realize that both values and virtues are essential in a company or community for success and peaceful coexistence respectively. Although the two concepts, value, and virtue are similar regarding describing things that a person or society finds desirable, there is a lot of overlap between virtues and values. For instance, virtues explain an ideal that people or workplace groups look up to and try to emulate; on the other hand, values describe what an individual might hold dear and finds valuable. As such, it can be possible that values are not necessarily moral as they are based on personal perspectives, which are diverse and can be positive and negative. However, virtues will always be based on morality since they are developed for the entire population in a community as the positive attributes acceptable to all people (Crossan, Mazutis, & Seijts, 2013). Virtues have been continuously passed on into consecutive generations, while values form from a person’s view of the world. ReferencesBaer, R. (2015). Ethics, values, virtues, and character strengths in mindfulness-based interventions: a psychological science perspective. Mindfulness, 6(4), 956-969.Crossan, M., Mazutis, D., & Seijts, G. (2013). In search of virtue: The role of virtues, values and character strengths in ethical decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 113(4), 567-581.

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Essays About Values: 5 Essay Examples Plus 10 Prompts

Similar to how our values guide us, let this guide with essays about values and writing prompts help you write your essay.

Values are the core principles that guide the actions we take and the choices we make. They are the cornerstones of our identity. On a community or organizational level, values are the moral code that every member must embrace to live harmoniously and work together towards shared goals. 

We acquire our values from different sources such as parents, mentors, friends, cultures, and experiences. All of these build on one another — some rejected as we see fit — for us to form our perception of our values and what will lead us to a happy and fulfilled life.

5 Essay Examples

1. what today’s classrooms can learn from ancient cultures by linda flanagan, 2. stand out to your hiring panel with a personal value statement by maggie wooll, 3. make your values mean something by patrick m. lencioni, 4. how greed outstripped need by beth azar, 5. a shift in american family values is fueling estrangement by joshua coleman, 1. my core values, 2. how my upbringing shaped my values, 3. values of today’s youth, 4. values of a good friend, 5. an experience that shaped your values, 6. remembering our values when innovating, 7. important values of school culture, 8. books that influenced your values, 9. religious faith and moral values, 10. schwartz’s theory of basic values.

“Connectedness is another core value among Maya families, and teachers seek to cultivate it… While many American teachers also value relationships with their students, that effort is undermined by the competitive environment seen in many Western classrooms.”

Ancient communities keep their traditions and values of a hands-off approach to raising their kids. They also preserve their hunter-gatherer mindsets and others that help their kids gain patience, initiative, a sense of connectedness, and other qualities that make a helpful child.

“How do you align with the company’s mission and add to its culture? Because it contains such vital information, your personal value statement should stand out on your resume or in your application package.”

Want to rise above other candidates in the jobs market? Then always highlight your value statement. A personal value statement should be short but still, capture the aspirations and values of the company. The essay provides an example of a captivating value statement and tips for crafting one.

“Values can set a company apart from the competition by clarifying its identity and serving as a rallying point for employees. But coming up with strong values—and sticking to them—requires real guts.”

Along with the mission and vision, clear values should dictate a company’s strategic goals. However, several CEOs still needed help to grasp organizational values fully. The essay offers a direction in setting these values and impresses on readers the necessity to preserve them at all costs. 

“‘He compared the values held by people in countries with more competitive forms of capitalism with the values of folks in countries that have a more cooperative style of capitalism… These countries rely more on strategic cooperation… rather than relying mostly on free-market competition as the United States does.”

The form of capitalism we have created today has shaped our high value for material happiness. In this process, psychologists said we have allowed our moral and ethical values to drift away from us for greed to take over. You can also check out these essays about utopia .

“From the adult child’s perspective, there might be much to gain from an estrangement: the liberation from those perceived as hurtful or oppressive, the claiming of authority in a relationship, and the sense of control over which people to keep in one’s life. For the mother or father, there is little benefit when their child cuts off contact.”

It is most challenging when the bonds between parent and child weaken in later years. Psychologists have been navigating this problem among modern families, which is not an easy conflict to resolve. It requires both parties to give their best in humbling themselves and understanding their loved ones, no matter how divergent their values are. 

10 Writing  Prompts On Essays About Values

For this topic prompt, contemplate your non-negotiable core values and why you strive to observe them at all costs. For example, you might value honesty and integrity above all else. Expound on why cultivating fundamental values leads to a happy and meaningful life. Finally, ponder other values you would like to gain for your future self. Write down how you have been practicing to adopt these aspired values. 

Many of our values may have been instilled in us during childhood. This essay discusses the essential values you gained from your parents or teachers while growing up. Expound on their importance in helping you flourish in your adult years. Then, offer recommendations on what households, schools, or communities can do to ensure that more young people adopt these values.

Is today’s youth lacking essential values, or is there simply a shift in what values generations uphold? Strive to answer this and write down the healthy values that are emerging and dying. Then think of ways society can preserve healthy values while doing away with bad ones. Of course, this change will always start at home, so also encourage parents, as role models, to be mindful of their words, actions and behavior.  

The greatest gift in life is friendship. In this essay, enumerate the top values a friend should have. You may use your best friend as an example. Then, cite the best traits your best friend has that have influenced you to be a better version of yourself. Finally, expound on how these values can effectively sustain a healthy friendship in the long term. 

We all have that one defining experience that has forever changed how we see life and the values we hold dear. Describe yours through storytelling with the help of our storytelling guide . This experience may involve a decision, a conversation you had with someone, or a speech you heard at an event.  

With today’s innovation, scientists can make positive changes happen. But can we truly exercise our values when we fiddle with new technologies whose full extent of positive and adverse effects we do not yet understand such as AI? Contemplate this question and look into existing regulations on how we curb the creation or use of technologies that go against our values. Finally, assess these rules’ effectiveness and other options society has. 

Highlight a school’s role in honing a person’s values. Then, look into the different aspects of your school’s culture. Identify which best practices distinct in your school are helping students develop their values. You could consider whether your teachers exhibit themselves as admirable role models or specific parts of the curriculum that help you build good character. 

In this essay, recommend your readers to pick up your favorite books, particularly those that served as pathways to enlightening insights and values. To start, provide a summary of the book’s story. It would be better if you could do so without revealing too much to avoid spoiling your readers’ experience. Then, elaborate on how you have applied the values you learned from the book.

For many, religious faith is the underlying reason for their values. For this prompt, explore further the inextricable links between religion and values. If you identify with a certain religion, share your thoughts on the values your sector subscribes to. You can also tread the more controversial path on the conflicts of religious values with socially accepted beliefs or practices, such as abortion. 

Dive deeper into the ten universal values that social psychologist Shalom Schwartz came up with: power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security. Look into their connections and conflicts against each other. Then, pick your favorite value and explain how you relate to it the most. Also, find if value conflicts within you, as theorized by Schwartz.

Make sure to check out our round-up of the best essay checkers . If you want to use the latest grammar software, read our guide on using an AI grammar checker .

Essay on Values for Students and Children

500+ words essay on values.

Importance of Values

For an individual, values are most important. An individual with good values is loved by everyone around as he is compassionate about others and also he behaves ethically.

Values Help in Decision Making

A person is able to judge what is right and what is wrong based on the values he imbibes. In life at various steps, it makes the decision-making process easier. A person with good values is always likely to make better decisions than others.

Values Can Give Direction to Our Life

In life, Values give us clear goals. They always tell us how we should behave and act in different situations and give the right direction to our life. In life, a person with good values can take better charge.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Values Can Build Character

If a person wants a strong character, then he has to possesses good values such as honesty , loyalty, reliability, efficiency, consistency, compassion, determination, and courage. Values always help in building our character.

Values Can Help in Building a Society

If u want a better society then people need to bear good values. Values play an important role in society. They only need to do their hard work, with compassion, honesty, and other values. Such people will help in the growth of society and make it a much better place to live.

Characteristics of Values

Values are always based on various things. While the basic values remain the same across cultures and are intact since centuries some values may vary. Values may be specific to a society or age. In the past, it was considered that women with good moral values must stay at home and not voice their opinion on anything but however, this has changed over time. Our culture and society determine the values to a large extent. We imbibe values during our childhood years and they remain with us throughout our life.

Family always plays the most important role in rendering values to us. Decisions in life are largely based on the values we possess. Values are permanent and seldom change. A person is always known by the values he possesses. The values of a person always reflect on his attitude and overall personality.

The Decline of Values in the Modern Times

While values are of great importance and we are all aware of the same unfortunately people these days are so engrossed in making money and building a good lifestyle that they often overlook the importance of values. At the age when children must be taught good values, they are taught to fight and survive in this competitive world. Their academics and performance in other activities are given importance over their values.

Parents , as well as teachers, teach them how to take on each other and win by any means instead of inculcating good sportsman spirit in them and teaching them values such as integrity, compassion, and patience. Children always look up to their elders as their role models and it is unfortunate that elders these days have a lack of values. Therefore the children learn the same.

In order to help him grow into a responsible and wise human being, it is important for people to realize that values must be given topmost priority in a child’s life because children are the future of the society. There can be nothing better in a society where a majority of people have good values and they follow the ethical norms.

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Virtues and Vices: and other essays in moral philosophy

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This collection of essays, written between 1957 and 1977, contains discussions of the moral philosophy of David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and some modern philosophers. It presents virtues and vices rather than rights and duties as the central concepts in moral philosophy. Throughout, the author rejects contemporary anti‐ naturalistic moral philosophies such as emotivism and prescriptivism, but defends the view that moral judgements may be hypothetical rather than (as Kant thought) categorical imperatives. The author also applies her moral philosophy to the current debates on euthanasia and abortion, the latter discussed in relation to the doctrine of the double effect. She argues against the suggestion, on the part of A. J. Ayer and others, that free will actually requires determinism. In a final essay, she asks whether the concept of moral approval can be understood except against a particular background of social practices.

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112 Personal Values Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Personal values are the beliefs and principles that guide our decisions and actions in life. They are the core of who we are and what we stand for. Identifying and understanding our personal values is crucial for living a fulfilling and authentic life.

To help you explore and reflect on your personal values, we have compiled a list of 112 essay topic ideas and examples. These topics cover a wide range of values, from honesty and integrity to compassion and empathy. Whether you are writing an essay for a class assignment or simply reflecting on your values, these prompts will help you delve deep into what matters most to you.

• The importance of honesty in relationships
• How integrity shapes our character
• The value of perseverance in achieving our goals
• Why empathy is essential for understanding others
• The role of compassion in building a more caring society
• The significance of gratitude in fostering happiness
• How courage helps us overcome challenges
• The power of forgiveness in healing relationships
• The impact of generosity on others
• The value of respect in building trust
• Why humility is important in personal growth
• The role of responsibility in being a good citizen
• The importance of loyalty in friendships
• How authenticity leads to self-acceptance
• The significance of kindness in a world filled with negativity
• Why fairness is essential for justice
• The value of patience in dealing with difficult situations
• How self-discipline leads to success
• The impact of open-mindedness on personal growth
• The role of independence in making our own choices
• Why self-care is crucial for mental health
• The importance of self-reflection in personal development
• How mindfulness leads to a more peaceful life
• The value of perseverance in overcoming obstacles
• Why self-respect is key to self-esteem
• The significance of self-awareness in understanding our emotions
• How self-compassion leads to self-acceptance
• The impact of self-confidence on our actions
• The role of self-control in managing impulses
• Why self-expression is important for creativity
• The value of self-improvement in reaching our full potential
• How self-reliance leads to independence
• The importance of selflessness in helping others
• Why selflessness is essential for building strong relationships
• The significance of service to others in making a difference
• How simplicity leads to a more meaningful life
• The impact of sincerity on building trust
• The role of solidarity in standing up for others
• Why spirituality is important for inner peace
• The value of stewardship in protecting the environment
• How strength of character leads to resilience
• The importance of teamwork in achieving common goals
• Why tolerance is crucial for diversity
• The significance of trust in building relationships
• How truthfulness leads to authenticity
• The impact of understanding on resolving conflicts
• The role of unity in creating harmony
• Why uprightness is essential for moral integrity
• The value of virtue in guiding our actions
• How wisdom leads to sound decision-making
• The importance of work ethic in achieving success
• Why ambition is crucial for reaching our goals
• The significance of balance in maintaining harmony
• How beauty leads to appreciation of life
• The impact of belief in oneself on achieving dreams
• The role of boldness in taking risks
• Why creativity is essential for innovation
• The value of curiosity in learning new things
• How determination leads to achievement
• The importance of diligence in pursuing excellence
• Why enthusiasm is crucial for motivation
• The significance of flexibility in adapting to change
• How focus leads to productivity
• The impact of freedom on individual rights
• The role of friendship in providing support
• Why fun is essential for a balanced life
• The value of generosity in giving back
• How growth leads to personal development
• The importance of harmony in relationships
• Why health is crucial for overall well-being
• The significance of honesty in communication
• How humor leads to laughter and joy
• The impact of independence on autonomy
• The role of innovation in progress
• Why justice is essential for fairness
• The value of leadership in guiding others
• How love leads to compassion
• Why moderation is crucial for balance
• The significance of optimism in facing challenges
• How passion leads to fulfillment
• The impact of patience in waiting for results
• The role of perseverance in achieving long-term goals
• Why positivity is essential for a healthy mindset
• The value of purpose in finding meaning in life
• How resilience leads to bouncing back from setbacks
• The importance of responsibility in taking ownership
• Why service to others is crucial for community
• The significance of simplicity in decluttering our lives
• How sincerity leads to trustworthiness
• The impact of social justice on equality
• The role of solidarity in standing up for what is right
• Why spirituality is essential for inner peace
• The value of stewardship in caring for the environment

These essay topics are just a starting point for exploring your personal values. Take the time to reflect on what matters most to you and why these values are important in your life. By understanding and living by your personal values, you can lead a more authentic and fulfilling life.

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Inner Strength For Life – The 12 Master Virtues

Our journey of growth in life can be described as a journey of developing both insights and also virtues (qualities of mind and heart). This article maps out what are the main qualities to develop, and what particular strengths or gifts are gained from each of them.

Developing virtues is not about being better than others, but about developing the potential of our own heart and mind. The philosophers of ancient Greece , Buddha , the Yogis, and the Positive Psychology movement all value the cultivation of certain personal qualities. In this essay I attempt to systematize these core strengths into 12 “buckets” or “power virtues”, as many of them share common features.

Each of these virtues, rather than being an inborn personal trait, are habits  and states of mind  that can be consciously cultivated using a systematic approach.

There are many books written about each of these virtues. In this post I can only cover a brief introduction of each, and suggest some further reading. Finally, I have separated them into virtues of mind and heart only for the sake of exposition – in truth there is great overlap between both.

Let us begin by talking about the need to develop virtues holistically.

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What is a Virtue

Balanced self-development, tranquility, virtues list, parting thoughts.

A virtue is a positive character trait that is consider a foundation for living well, and a key ingredient to greatness.

For some, the word “virtue” may have a bit of a Victorian puritanism associated with it. This is not my understanding of it, nor is this the spirit of this article.

Rather, a virtue is a personal asset , a shield to protect us from difficulty, trouble, and suffering. Each virtue is a special sort of “power” that enables us to experience a level of well-being that we wouldn’t be able to access otherwise. Indeed, “virtue”comes from the latin virtus (force, worth, power).

Let’s take the virtue of equanimity as an example.

Developing equanimity protects us from suffering through the ups and downs of life, and saves us from the pain of being criticized, wronged, or left behind. It unlocks a new level of well-being: the emotional stability of knowing we will always be ok.

The same is true for every virtue discussed in this essay.

We all have certain personal qualities more naturally developed than the others. And our tendency is often to double-down on the virtues that we already have, rather than developing  complementary virtues . For instance, people who are good at self-discipline may focus on getting even better at that, and overlook the need to develop the opposing virtue of flexibility.

There is no doubt that we need to play our strengths . But when we focus solely on our strengths and use them to overcompensate our weaknesses, the result is often not good. We can become victims of our own blessings.

Let’s take the case of a person whose natural strength is compassion and kindness. In certain relationships, this might be abused by other people (directly or indirectly). Dealing with this situation by becoming kinder would not be wise. Instead, the opposing virtue of self-assertiveness (the courage of setting boundaries), is to be exercised.

Here are some other examples of virtues that are incomplete (and potentially harmful) in isolation:

• Tranquility without joy and energy is stale;
• Detachment and equanimity without love can be cold;
• Trust without wisdom can be blind;
• Morality without humility can be self-righteous;
• Love without wisdom can cause harm to oneself;
• Focus and courage without love and wisdom is just blind power.

It took me years to get to this precious insight – and I’ll probably need a lifetime to learn how to implement it. 😉

Funnily enough, afterwards I discovered that this was already a concept praised by the Stoics. In Stoicism, it is called anacoluthia , the mutual entailment of virtues.

The point is: we need to focus on our strengths, but we also need to pay attention to the virtues we lack the most. Any development in these areas, however small, has the potential to be life-changing. I go deeper into this topic here .

Have a look at your current strengths. What complementary virtues might you be overlooking?

Best Virtues of Mind

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin

Related qualities: boldness, fearlessness, decisiveness, leadership, assertiveness, confidence, magnanimity.

Courage says: “The consequences of this action might be painful for me, but it’s the right thing to do. I’ll do it.”

Courage is the ability to hold on to the feeling “I need to do this”, ignore the fear mongering thoughts, and take action. For a few, it is the absence of fear; for most, it’s the willingness to act despite fear.

Examples: It takes courage to expose yourself, to try something new, to change directions, to take a risk, to let go of an attachment, to say “I was wrong”, to have a difficult conversation, to trust yourself. Its manifestations are many, both in small and big things in life.

Without courage we feel powerless. Because we know what we want to do, or what we need to do, but we lack the boldness to take action. We default to the easy way out, the path of least resistance. It might feel comfortable now, but in the long term it doesn’t make us happy.

Recommended book: Daring Greatly (Brené Brown)

“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.” – James Allen

Related qualities: serenity, calmness, non-reactivity, gentleness, peace, acceptance.

Tranquility says:  “There is no need to stress. All is well.”

Tranquility involves keeping your mind and heart calm, like the ocean’s depth. You take your time to perceive what’s going on and act purposefully, without agitation, without hurry, and without overreacting. On a deeper level, it means to diminish rumination, worries, and useless thinking.

Examples:  Taking a deep breath before answering an email or phone call, or before responding to the hurtful behavior of someone else. Being ok with the fact that things are often not going to go as we expect. Not brooding about the past or worrying too much about the future. Shunning busyness in favor of a more purposeful living. Not living in fight-or-flight mode.

Without tranquility we expend more energy than what’s really needed. We experience a constant feeling of stress, anxiety, or agitation in the back of our minds. And sometimes we may be fooling ourselves thinking we are being “active” or “productive”.

Recommended book: The Path to Tranquility (Dalai Lama)

“Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” -Winston Churchill

Related qualities: energy, enthusiasm, passion, vitality, zeal, perseverance, willpower, determination, discipline, self-control, resolution, mindfulness, steadfastness, tenacity, grit.

Diligence says: “I am committed to this work / habit / path. I will continue it no matter what , even in the face of challenges, discouragement, and tiredness.”

Some may say that it is the most essential virtue for success in any field – career, art, sports or business. It is about making a decision once, in something that is good for you, and then keeping it up despite adversities and mood fluctuations.

Examples: Deciding to stop smoking and never again lighting acigarette. Deciding that I will meditate every day and keeping that up, like a perfect habit chain. Showing up to train / study / work in your passion project day after day, regardless of how you feel. Always getting up as soon as you fall. Having an unbreakable, almost stubborn, determination. Treating challenges like energy bars.

Without diligence we can’t accomplish anything meaningful. We can’t properly take care of our health, finances, mind, or relationships. We give up on everything too soon. We can’t create good habits, break bad habits, or manifest the things we want in our lives. We are a victim of circumstances, social/familial conditioning, and genetics.

Recommended books: The Willpower Instinct (Kelly McGonigal), Grit  (Angela Duckworth), Power of Habit (Charles Duhhig)

“The powers of the mind are like the rays of the sun – when they are concentrated they illumine.” – Swami Vivekananda

Related qualities: concentration, one-pointedness, depth, contemplation, essentialism, meditation, orderliness.

Focus says: “I will ignore distractions, ignore the thousand different trivial things, and put all my energy in the most important thing. I will keep going deeper into what really matters. I can tame my own mind.”

Focus, the ability to control your attention, is the core skill of meditation . It involves bringing your mind, moment after moment, to dwell where you want it to dwell, rather than being pulled by the gravity of all the noise going on inside and outside of you.

Examples:  Bringing your mind again and again to your breathing or mantra , during meditation. Cutting down on social media, TV and gossip. Learning to say “no” to 90% of good  opportunities, so you can say yes to the 10% of  great  opportunities. Staying on your chosen path and not chasing the next shiny thing.

Without focus  our energy is dissipated and our progress in any field is limited (like moving one mile in ten directions, rather than ten miles in a single direction). Focus, together with motivation and diligence, is a type of fire, and as such it needs to be balanced with more water-like virtues.

Recommended book: Essentialism (Greg McKeown)

“Happy is the man who can endure the highest and lowest fortune. He who has endured such vicissitudes with equanimity has deprived misfortune of its power.” – Seneca the Younger

Related qualities: balance, temperance, patience, forbearance, tolerance, acceptance, resilience, fortitude.

Equanimity says: “In highs and lows, victory and defeat, pleasure and pain, gain or loss – I keep evenness of temper. Nothing can mess me up.”

It is the ability to accept the present moment without emotional reaction, without agitation. It’s being unfuckwithable  , imperturbable.

Examples:  Not going into despair when we miss an opportunity, or lose some money. Not feeling elated when praised, or discouraged when criticized. Not taking offense from other people. Not indulging in emotional reactions to gain or loss, whatever shape they take. Being modest in success, and gracious in defeat.

Without equanimity , life is an emotional roller-coaster. We are attached to the highs, which brings pain because they are short-lived. And we are uncomfortable (perhaps even fearful) with the lows – which  also brings pain, because they can’t be fully avoided.

Recommended book: Letters from a Stoic (Seneca), Dhammapada (Buddha)

“A great man is always willing to be little.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Related qualities: modesty, humbleness, discretion, egolessness, lack of conceit, simplicity, prudence, respect.

Humility says: “There are many things that I don’t know. Every person I meet is my teacher in something.”

Humility is letting go of the desire to feel superior to other people, either by means of wealth, fame, intelligence, beauty, titles, or influence. It’s about not comparing yourself with others, to be either superior or inferior. In the words of C.S. Lewis, True humility is not about thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less . In the deepest sense, humility is about transcending the ego.

This virtue is especially needed for overachievers and “successful people”.

Examples: Accepting your own mistakes. Learning to see virtue and good in others. Not dwelling on vanity and feelings of inflated self-importance. Being genuinely happy with other people’s successes. Accepting the uncertainty of life, and how small we are.

Without humility , we live stuck in an ego trap which prevents us from growing beyond the confines of our self-interests, and also poisons our relationships.

Recommended books: Ego is the Enemy (Ryan Holiday),  Humility: An Unlikely Biography of America’s Greatest Virtue

“Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.” – Mark Twain

Related qualities: character, justice, honor, truthfulness, sincerity, honesty, responsibility, reliability, morality, righteousness, ethics, idealism, loyalty, dignity.

Integrity says: “I will do what is right, according to my conscience, even if nobody is looking. I will choose thoughts and words based on my values, not on personal gains. I will be radically honest and authentic, with myself and others.”

Like many virtues, integrity is about choosing what is best , rather than what is easy . It invites us to resist instant gratification in favor of a higher type of satisfaction – that of doing the right thing. It’s not about being moralistic, but about being congruent to our own conscience and values, in all our actions.

Examples: Refusing to distort the truth in order to gain personal benefits. Sticking to our words. Acting as though all our real intentions were publicly visible by others. Letting go of the “but I can get away with it” thinking. Not promising what you know you cannot fulfill.

Without integrity , we are not perceived as trustable or genuine. We make decisions that favor a short term gain but are likely to bring disastrous consequences in the long run.

Recommended books: Lying (Sam Harris), Yoga Morality (Georg Feuerstein)

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” – Aristotle

Related qualities: intelligence, discernment, insight, understanding, knowledge, transcendence, perspective, discrimination, contemplation, investigation, clarity, vision.

Wisdom says: “Let me contemplate deeply on this. Let me understand it from the inside out. Let me know myself.”

Unlike the other virtues listed so far, wisdom it is not something that you can directly practice. Rather, it is the result of contemplation, introspection, study, and experience. It unveils the other virtues, informs them, and makes their practice easier. It points out the truth behind the surface, and the connection among things.

Without wisdom , we don’t really know what we are doing. Life is small, often confusing, and there might be a sense of purposelessness.

Recommended books: This depends on your taste for traditional and philosophy ( here is my list). Or you can also join my Practical Wisdom Newsletter .

Best Virtues of Heart

“You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.” – Steve Jobs

Related qualities: optimism, faith, openness, devotion, hope.

Trust says: “There is something larger than me. Life flows better when I trust resources larger than my own, and when I see purpose in random events.”

Trust is not a whimsical expectation that things will happen according to your preference; but rather a faith that things will happen in favor of your greater good. As Tony Robbins says, it is the attitude that life is happening for you , not to you .

Examples: Not dwelling on negative interpretations of what has happened in your life. Trusting that there is something good to be learned or gained from any situation. Having the feeling that if you keep true to your path, things will eventually work out ok.

Without trust , life can feel lonely, scary, or unfair. You are on your own, in the midst of random events, in a cold and careless universe.

Recommended book: Radical Acceptance (Tara Brach)

“Remain cheerful, for nothing destructivecan piece through the solid wall of cheerfulness.” – Sri Chinmoy

Related qualities: contentment, cheerfulness, satisfaction, gratitude, humor, appreciation.

Joy says: “I am cheerful, content, happy, and grateful. There is always something good in anything that happens. I feel well in my own skin, without depending on anything else.”

The disposition for joy is something that can be consciously cultivated. It is often the result of good vitality in the body, peace of mind, and an attitude of appreciation. It is also a natural consequence of a deep meditation practice , and the letting go of clinging.

Examples: Feeling good as a result of the positive states you have cultivated in your body (health), mind (peace), and heart (gratitude).

Without joy we are unhappy, cranky, gloomy, pessimistic, bored, neurotic.

Recommended books: The How of Happiness (Sonja Lyubomirsky), The Book of Joy (Dalai Lama et ali)

“The tighter you squeeze, the less you have.” – Zen Saying

Related qualities: dispassion, non-attachment, forgiveness, letting go, moderation, flexibility, frugality.

Detachment says: “I interact with things, I experience things, but I do not own them. Everything passes. I can let them be, and let them go.”

Learning how to let go is one of the most important things in overcoming suffering. It doesn’t mean that we live life less intensely; rather, we do what we are called to do with zest, and then we step back and watch what happens, without anxiety. It doesn’t mean we don’t love, play, work, or seek with intensity; but rather that we are detached from the results, knowing that we have full control only over the effort we make.

At the deepest level, detachment is a disillusionment with external desires and goals, and there is the realization that the only reliable source of happiness is internal. It also involves not holding onto any particular state.

Examples: Not being anxious about what the future brings. Letting go when things need to go. “Opening the hand” of your mind and allowing things to flow as they will. Having the feeling of not needing  anything .

Without detachment,  we suffer loss again and again. We can be manipulated. The mind is an open field for worries, fear, and insecurity.

Recommended books: Letting Go (David R. Hawkins),  Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away (Ajahn Chah)

Check also my online course on the topic:  Letting Go, Letting Be .

“The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.” – Norman Vincent Peale

Related qualities: love, compassion, friendliness, service, generosity, sacrifice, selflessness, cooperation, nonviolence, consideration, tact, sensitivity.

Kindness says: “I feel others as myself, and take pleasure in doing good for them, in giving and serving. I wish everyone well. The well-being of others is my well-being.”

Kindness and related virtues (love, compassion, consideration) is the core “social virtue”. It invites us to expand our sense of well-being to include others as well. It gives us the ability to put ourselves in another person’s shoes, and feel what they feel as if it is happening to us, and if appropriate do something about it. The result is the experience of the “helper’s high”, a mix of dopamine and oxytocin.

At it’s most basic level, this virtue tell us to do unto others as you would have them do unto you . At the deepest level, it says “We are all one”.

Examples: Offering a word of encouragement or advice. Listening without judgment. Helping someone in need, directly or indirectly. Teaching. Assuming the best in others. Volunteering. Doing something for someone who can never repay you.

Without kindness , we cannot build any true human connection, and we fail to experience a happiness that is larger than ourself.

Recommended books: The Power of Kindness (Pierro Ferrucci), Awakening Loving-Kindness (Pema Chodron)

Here is the full list of virtues. The ones that are very similar are grouped together.

• Acceptance. Letting go.
• Contentment. Joyfulness.
• Confidence. Boldness. Courage. Assertiveness.
• Forgiveness. Magnanimity. Clemency.
• Honesty. Authenticity. Truthfulness. Sincerity. Integrity.
• Kindness. Generosity. Compassion. Empathy. Friendliness.
• Loyalty. Trustworthiness. Reliability.
• Perseverance. Determination. Purposefulness. Tenacity.
• Willpower. Self-control. Fortitude. Self-discipline.
• Loyalty. Commitment. Responsibility.
• Caringness. Consideration. Support. Service.
• Cooperation. Unity.
• Humility. Simplicity.
• Creativity. Imagination.
• Detachment.
• Wisdom. Thoughtfulness. Insight.
• Dignity. Honor. Respect.
• Energy. Motivation. Zest. Enthusiasm. Passion.
• Resilience. Grit. Tolerance. Patience.
• Excellence.
• Orderliness. Purity. Clarity.
• Prudence. Awareness. Tactfulness. Preparedness.
• Temperance. Balance. Moderation.
• Justice. Fairness.
• Trust. Faith. Hope. Optimism.
• Calmnes. Serenity. Centeredness. Peace.
• Grace. Elegance. Gentleness.
• Flexibility. Adaptability.

Developing these virtues is a life-long process. We’ll probably never be perfect at them. But the more we cultivate them, the better our life becomes. And, chances are, simply reading about these virtues has already enlivened them in you.

One simple way of cultivating these virtues is to focus on a single virtue each week (or month), and look daily for opportunities to put that chosen quality into practice. Keep asking yourself throughout the day, “What does it mean to be [virtue]?”

However, if you want to develop them more systematically, with practical exercises and support, consider joining my Intermediate Meditation Course . In this online program, besides learning 10 different types of meditation, you will find lessons focused on developing 10 different character strengths/virtues.

Another option is to work in person with me as your coach .

Every step taken on developing these virtues is valuable. By developing them we grow as a person, expand our awareness, and have better tools to live a happy and meaningful life.

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Virtue Ethics

Virtue ethics is currently one of three major approaches in normative ethics. It may, initially, be identified as the one that emphasizes the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to the approach which emphasizes duties or rules (deontology) or that which emphasizes the consequences of actions (consequentialism). Suppose it is obvious that someone in need should be helped. A utilitarian will point to the fact that the consequences of doing so will maximise well-being, a deontologist to the fact that, in doing so the agent will be acting in accordance with a moral rule such as "Do unto others as you would be done by" and a virtue ethicist to the fact that helping the person would be charitable or benevolent.

Three of virtue ethics' central concepts, virtue, practical wisdom and eudaimonia are often misunderstood. Once they are distinguished from related but distinct concepts peculiar to modern philosophy, various objections to virtue ethics can be better assessed.

1. Preliminaries

2. virtue, practical wisdom and eudaimonia, 3. objections to virtue ethics, 4. future directions, bibliography, other internet resources, related entries.

Virtue ethics' founding fathers are Plato and, more particularly Aristotle (its roots in Chinese philosophy are even more ancient) and it persisted as the dominant approach in Western moral philosophy until at least the Enlightenment. It suffered a momentary eclipse during the nineteenth century but re-emerged in the late 1950's in Anglo-American philosophy. It was heralded by Anscombe's famous article "Modern Moral Philosophy" (Anscombe 1958) which crystallised an increasing dissatisfaction with the forms of deontology and utilitarianism then prevailing. Neither of them, at that time, paid attention to a number of topics that had always figured in the virtue ethics' tradition — the virtues themselves, motives and moral character, moral education, moral wisdom or discernment, friendship and family relationships, a deep concept of happiness, the role of the emotions in our moral life and the fundamentally important questions of what sort of person I should be and how we should live.

Its re-emergence had an invigorating effect on the other two approaches, many of whose proponents then began to address these topics in the terms of their favoured theory. (The sole unfortunate consequence of this has been that it is now necessary to distinguish "virtue ethics" (the third approach) from "virtue theory", a term which is reserved for an account of virtue within one of the other approaches.) Interest in Kant's virtue theory has redirected philosophers' attention to Kant's long neglected Doctrine of Virtue , and utilitarians are developing consequentialist virtue theories. (Hooker 2000, Driver 2001.) It has also generated virtue ethical readings of philosophers other than Plato and Aristotle, such as Martineau, Hume and Nietzsche, and thereby different forms of virtue ethics have developed. (Slote 2001, Swanton 2003.)

But although modern virtue ethics does not have to take the form known as "neo-Aristotelian", almost any modern version still shows that its roots are in ancient Greek philosophy by the employment of three concepts derived from it.These are arête (excellence or virtue) phronesis (practical or moral wisdom) and eudaimonia (usually translated as happiness or flourishing.) As modern virtue ethics has grown and more people have become familiar with its literature, the understanding of these terms has increased, but it is still the case that readers familiar only with modern philosophy tend to misinterpret them.

A virtue such as honesty or generosity is not just a tendency to do what is honest or generous, nor is it to be helpfully specified as a "desirable" or "morally valuable" character trait. It is, indeed a character trait — that is, a disposition which is well entrenched in its possessor, something that, as we say "goes all the way down", unlike a habit such as being a tea-drinker — but the disposition in question, far from being a single track disposition to do honest actions, or even honest actions for certain reasons, is multi-track. It is concerned with many other actions as well, with emotions and emotional reactions, choices, values, desires, perceptions, attitudes, interests, expectations and sensibilities. To possess a virtue is to be a certain sort of person with a certain complex mindset. (Hence the extreme recklessness of attributing a virtue on the basis of a single action.)

The most significant aspect of this mindset is the wholehearted acceptance of a certain range of considerations as reasons for action. An honest person cannot be identified simply as one who, for example, practices honest dealing, and does not cheat. If such actions are done merely because the agent thinks that honesty is the best policy, or because they fear being caught out, rather than through recognising "To do otherwise would be dishonest" as the relevant reason, they are not the actions of an honest person. An honest person cannot be identified simply as one who, for example, always tells the truth, nor even as one who always tells the truth because it is the truth, for one can have the virtue of honesty without being tactless or indiscreet. The honest person recognises "That would be a lie" as a strong (though perhaps not overriding) reason for not making certain statements in certain circumstances, and gives due, but not overriding, weight to "That would be the truth" as a reason for making them.

An honest person's reasons and choices with respect to honest and dishonest actions reflect her views about honesty and truth — but of course such views manifest themselves with respect to other actions, and to emotional reactions as well. Valuing honesty as she does, she chooses, where possible to work with honest people, to have honest friends, to bring up her children to be honest. She disapproves of, dislikes, deplores dishonesty, is not amused by certain tales of chicanery, despises or pities those who succeed by dishonest means rather than thinking they have been clever, is unsurprised, or pleased (as appropriate) when honesty triumphs, is shocked or distressed when those near and dear to her do what is dishonest and so on.

Given that a virtue is such a multi-track disposition, it would obviously be reckless to attribute one to an agent on the basis of a single observed action or even a series of similar actions, especially if you don't know the agent's reasons for doing as she did. (Sreenivasan 2002) Moreover, to possess, fully, such a disposition is to possess full or perfect virtue, which is rare, and there are a number of ways of falling short of this ideal. (Athanassoulis 2000.) Possessing a virtue is a matter of degree, for most people who can be truly described as fairly virtuous, and certainly markedly better than those who can be truly described as dishonest, self-centred and greedy, still have their blind spots — little areas where they do not act for the reasons one would expect. So someone honest or kind in most situations, and notably so in demanding ones may nevertheless be trivially tainted by snobbery, inclined to be disingenuous about their forebears and less than kind to strangers with the wrong accent.

Further, it is not easy to get one's emotions in harmony with one's rational recognition of certain reasons for action. I may be honest enough to recognise that I must own up to a mistake because it would be dishonest not to do so without my acceptance being so wholehearted that I can own up easily, with no inner conflict. Following (and adapting) Aristotle, virtue ethicists draw a distinction between full or perfect virtue and "continence", or strength of will. The fully virtuous do what they should without a struggle against contrary desires; the continent have to control a desire or temptation to do otherwise.

Describing the continent as "falling short" of perfect virtue appears to go against the intuition that there is something particularly admirable about people who manage to act well when it is especially hard for them to do so, but the plausibility of this depends on exactly what "makes it hard." (Foot 1978, 11-14.) If it is the circumstances in which the agent acts — say that she is very poor when she sees someone drop a full purse, or that she is in deep grief when someone visits seeking help — then indeed it is particularly admirable of her to restore the purse or give the help when it is hard for her to do so. But if what makes it hard is an imperfection in her character - the temptation to keep what is not hers, or a callous indifference to the suffering of others — then it is not.

Another way in which one can easily fall short of full virtue is through lacking phronesis — moral or practical wisdom.

The concept of a virtue is the concept of something that makes its possessor good: a virtuous person is a morally good, excellent or admirable person who acts and feels well, rightly, as she should. These are commonly accepted truisms. But it is equally common, in relation to particular (putative) examples of virtues to give these truisms up. We may say of someone that he is too generous or honest, generous or honest "to a fault". It is commonly asserted that someone's compassion might lead them to act wrongly, to tell a lie they should not have told, for example, in their desire to prevent someone else's hurt feelings. It is also said that courage, in a desperado, enables him to do far more wicked things than he would have been able to do if he were timid. So it would appear that generosity, honesty, compassion and courage despite being virtues, are sometimes faults. Someone who is generous, honest, compassionate, and courageous might not be a morally good, admirable person — or, if it is still held to be a truism that they are, then morally good people may be led by what makes them morally good to act wrongly! How have we arrived at such an odd conclusion?

The answer lies in too ready an acceptance of ordinary usage, which permits a fairly wide-ranging application of many of the virtue terms, combined, perhaps, with a modern readiness to suppose that the virtuous agent is motivated by emotion or inclination, not by rational choice. If one thinks of generosity or honesty as the disposition to be moved to action by generous or honest impulses such as the desire to give or to speak the truth, if one thinks of compassion as the disposition to be moved by the sufferings of others and to act on that emotion, if one thinks of courage as merely fearlessness, or the willingness to face danger, then it will indeed seem obvious that these are all dispositions that can lead to their possessor's acting wrongly. But it is also obvious, as soon as it is stated, that these are dispositions that can be possessed by children, and although children thus endowed (bar the "courageous" disposition) would undoubtedly be very nice children, we would not say that they were morally virtuous or admirable people. The ordinary usage, or the reliance on motivation by inclination, gives us what Aristotle calls "natural virtue" — a proto version of full virtue awaiting perfection by phronesis or practical wisdom.

Aristotle makes a number of specific remarks about phronesis that are the subject of much scholarly debate, but the (related) modern concept is best understood by thinking of what the virtuous morally mature adult has that nice children, including nice adolescents, lack. Both the virtuous adult and the nice child have good intentions, but the child is much more prone to mess things up because he is ignorant of what he needs to know in order to do what he intends. A virtuous adult is not, of course, infallible and may also, on occasion, fail to do what she intended to do through lack of knowledge, but only on those occasions on which the lack of knowledge is not culpable ignorance. So, for example, children and adolescents often harm those they intend to benefit either because they do not know how to set about securing the benefit or, more importantly, because their understanding of what is beneficial and harmful is limited and often mistaken. Such ignorance in small children is rarely, if ever culpable, and frequently not in adolescents, but it usually is in adults. Adults are culpable if they mess things up by being thoughtless, insensitive, reckless, impulsive, shortsighted, and by assuming that what suits them will suit everyone instead of taking a more objective viewpoint. They are also, importantly, culpable if their understanding of what is beneficial and harmful is mistaken. It is part of practical wisdom to know how to secure real benefits effectively; those who have practical wisdom will not make the mistake of concealing the hurtful truth from the person who really needs to know it in the belief that they are benefiting him.

Quite generally, given that good intentions are intentions to act well or "do the right thing", we may say that practical wisdom is the knowledge or understanding that enables its possessor, unlike the nice adolescents, to do just that, in any given situation. The detailed specification of what is involved in such knowledge or understanding has not yet appeared in the literature, but some aspects of it are becoming well known. Even many deontologists now stress the point that their action-guiding rules cannot, reliably, be applied correctly without practical wisdom, because correct application requires situational appreciation — the capacity to recognise, in any particular situation, those features of it that are morally salient. This brings out two aspects of practical wisdom.

One is that it characteristically comes only with experience of life. Amongst the morally relevant features of a situation may be the likely consequences, for the people involved, of a certain action, and this is something that adolescents are notoriously clueless about precisely because they are inexperienced. It is part of practical wisdom to be wise about human beings and human life. (It should go without saying that the virtuous are mindful of the consequences of possible actions. How could they fail to be reckless, thoughtless and short-sighted if they were not?)

The aspect that is more usually stressed regarding situational appreciation is the practically wise agent's capacity to recognise some features of a situation as more important than others, or indeed, in that situation, as the only relevant ones. The wise do not see things in the same way as the nice adolescents who, with their imperfect virtues, still tend to see the personally disadvantageous nature of a certain action as competing in importance with its honesty or benevolence or justice.

These aspects coalesce in the description of the practically wise as those who understand what is truly worthwhile, truly important, and thereby truly advantageous in life, who know, in short, how to live well. In the Aristotelian "eudaimonist" tradition, this is expressed in the claim that they have a true grasp of eudaimonia .

The concept of eudaimonia , a key term in ancient Greek moral philosophy, is central to any modern neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics and usually employed even by virtue ethicists who deliberately divorce themselves from Aristotle. It is standardly translated as "happiness" or "flourishing" and occasionally as "well-being."

Each translation has its disadvantages. The trouble with "flourishing" is that animals and even plants can flourish but eudaimonia is possibly only for rational beings. The trouble with "happiness", on any contemporary understanding of it uninfluenced by classically trained writers, is that it connotes something which is subjectively determined. It is for me, not for you, to pronounce on whether I am happy, or on whether my life, as a whole, has been a happy one, for, barring, perhaps, advanced cases of self-deception and the suppression of unconscious misery, if I think I am happy then I am — it is not something I can be wrong about. Contrast my being healthy or flourishing. Here we have no difficulty in recognizing that I might think I was healthy, either physically or psychologically, or think that I was flourishing and just be plain wrong. In this respect, "flourishing" is a better translation than "happiness". It is all too easy for me to be mistaken about whether or not my life is eudaimon (the adjective from eudaimonia ) not simply because it is easy to deceive oneself, but because it is easy to have a mistaken conception of eudaimonia, or of what it is to live well as a human being, believing it to consist largely in physical pleasure or luxury for example.

The claim that this is, straightforwardly, a mistaken conception, reveals the point that eudaimonia is, avowedly, a moralised, or "value-laden" concept of happiness, something like "true" or "real" happiness or "the sort of happiness worth seeking or having." It is thereby the sort of concept about which there can be substantial disagreement between people with different views about human life that cannot be resolved by appeal to some external standard on which, despite their different views, the parties to the disagreement concur.

All standard versions of virtue ethics agree that living a life in accordance with virtue is necessary for eudaimonia. This supreme good is not conceived of as an independently defined state or life (made up of, say, a list of non-moral goods that does not include virtuous activity) which possession and exercise of the virtues might be thought to promote. It is, within virtue ethics, already conceived of as something of which virtue is at least partially constitutive. Thereby virtue ethicists claim that a human life devoted to physical pleasure or the acquisition of wealth is not eudaimon, but a wasted life, and also accept that they cannot produce a knock down argument for this claim proceeding from premises that the happy hedonist would acknowledge.

But although all standard versions of virtue ethics insist on that conceptual link between virtue and eudaimonia , further links are matters of dispute and generate different versions. For Aristotle, virtue is necessary but not sufficient — what is also needed are external goods which are a matter of luck. For Plato, and the Stoics, it is both (Annas 1993), and modern versions of virtue ethics disagree further about the link between eudaimonia and what gives a character trait the status of being a virtue. Given the shared virtue ethical premise that "the good life is the virtuous life" we have so far three distinguishable views about what makes a character trait a virtue.

According to eudaimonism, the good life is the eudaimon life, and the virtues are what enable a human being to be eudaimon because the virtues just are those character traits that benefit their possessor in that way, barring bad luck. So there is a link between eudaimonia and what confers virtue status on a character trait. But according to pluralism, there is no such tight link. The good life is the morally meritorious life, the morally meritorious life is one that is responsive to the demands of the world (on a suitably moralised understanding of "the demands of the world" and is thereby the virtuous life because the virtues just are those character traits in virtue of which their possessor is thus responsive. (Swanton 2003) And according to perfectionism or "naturalism", the good life is the life characteristically lived by someone who is good qua human being, and the virtues enable their possessor to live such a life because the virtues just are those character traits that make their possessor good qua human being (an excellent specimen of her kind.)

(i) The application problem. In the early days of virtue ethics' revival, the approach was associated with an "anti-codifiability" thesis about ethics, directed against the prevailing pretensions of normative theory. At the time, utilitarians and deontologists commonly (though not universally) held that the task of ethical theory was to come up with a code consisting of universal rules or principles (possibly only one, as in the case of act-utilitarianism) which would have two significant features:

(a) the rule(s) would amount to a decision procedure for determining what the right action was in any particular case; (b) the rule(s) would be stated in such terms that any non-virtuous person could understand and apply it (them) correctly.

Virtue ethicists maintained, contrary to these two claims, that it was quite unrealistic to imagine that there could be such a code (see, in particular, Pincoffs 1971 and McDowell:1979). The results of attempts to produce and employ such a code, in the heady days of the 1960s and 1970s, when medical and then bioethics boomed and bloomed, tended to support the virtue ethicists' claim. More and more utilitarians and deontologists found themselves agreed on their general rules but on opposite sides of the controversial moral issues in contemporary discussion. It came to be recognised that moral sensitivity, perception,imagination, and judgement informed by experience — phronesis in short — is needed to apply rules or principles correctly. Hence many (though by no means all) utilitarians and deontologists have explicitly abandoned (b) and much less emphasis is placed on (a).

However, the complaint that virtue ethics does not produce codifiable principles is still the most commonly voiced criticism of the approach, expressed as the objection that it is, in principle, unable to provide action-guidance.

Initially, the objection was based on a misunderstanding. Blinkered by slogans that described virtue ethics as "concerned with Being rather then Doing", as addressing "What sort of person should I be?" but not "What should I do?" as being "agent-centred rather than act-centred", its critics maintained that it was unable to provide action-guidance and hence, rather than being a normative rival to utilitarian and deontological ethics, could claim to be no more than a valuable supplement to them. The rather odd idea was that all virtue ethics could offer was "Identify a moral exemplar and do what he would do" as though the raped fifteen year old trying to decide whether or not to have an abortion was supposed to ask herself "Would Socrates have had an abortion if he were in my circumstances?"

But the objection failed to take note of Anscombe's hint that a great deal of specific action guidance could be found in rules employing the virtue and vice terms ("v-rules") such as "Do what is honest/charitable; do not do what is dishonest/uncharitable." (Hursthouse 1991). (It is a noteworthy feature of our virtue and vice vocabulary that, although our list of generally recognised virtue terms is comparatively short, our list of vice terms is remarkably, and usefully, long, far exceeding anything that anyone who thinks in terms of standard deontological rules has ever come up with. Much invaluable action guidance comes from avoiding courses of action that would be irresponsible, feckless, lazy, inconsiderate, uncooperative, harsh, intolerant, selfish, mercenary, indiscreet, tactless, arrogant, unsympathetic, cold, incautious, unenterprising, pusillanimous, feeble, presumptuous, rude, hypocritical, self-indulgent, materialistic, grasping, short-sighted, vindictive, calculating, ungrateful, grudging, brutal, profligate, disloyal, and on and on.)

This response to "the action guidance problem" generated other objections, for example (ii) the charge of cultural relativity. Is it not the case that different cultures embody different virtues, (MacIntyre 1985) and hence that the v-rules will pick out actions as right or wrong only relative to a particular culture? Different replies have been made to this charge. One — the tu quoque, or "partners in crime" response" — exhibits a quite familiar pattern in virtue ethicists' defensive strategy. (Solomon 1988) They admit that, for them, cultural relativism is a challenge, but point out that it is just as much a problem for the other two approaches. The (putative) cultural variation in character traits regarded as virtues is no greater — indeed markedly less — than the cultural variation in rules of conduct, and different cultures have different ideas about what constitutes happiness or welfare. That cultural relativity should be a problem common to all three approaches is hardly surprising. It is related, after all, to the "justification problem" (see below) the quite general metaethical problem of justifying one's moral beliefs to those who disagree, whether they be moral sceptics, pluralists or from another culture.

A bolder strategy involves claiming that virtue ethics has less difficulty with cultural relativity than the other two approaches. Much cultural disagreement arises, it may be claimed, from local understandings of the virtues, but the virtues themselves are not relative to culture. (Nussbaum 1988.)

Another objection to which the tu quoque response is partially appropriate is (iii) "the conflict problem." What does virtue ethics have to say about dilemmas — cases in which, apparently, the requirements of different virtues conflict because they point in opposed directions? Charity prompts me to kill the person who would be better off dead, but justice forbids it. Honesty points to telling the hurtful truth, kindness and compassion to remaining silent or even lying. What shall I do? Of course, the same sorts of dilemmas are generated by conflicts between deontological rules. Deontology and virtue ethics share the conflict problem (and are happy to take it on board rather than follow some of the utilitarians in their consequentialist resolutions of such dilemmas) and in fact their strategies for responding to it are parallel. Both aim to resolve a number of dilemmas by arguing that the conflict is merely apparent; a discriminating understanding of the virtues or rules in question, possessed only by those with practical wisdom, will perceive that, in this particular case, the virtues do not make opposing demands or that one rule outranks another, or has a certain exception clause built into it. Whether this is all there is to it depends on whether there are any irresolvable dilemmas. If there are, proponents of either normative approach may point out reasonably that it could only be a mistake to offer a resolution of what is, ex hypothesi , irresolvable.

Another problem for virtue ethics, which is shared by both utilitarianism and deontology, is (iv) "the justification problem." Abstractly conceived, this is the problem of how we justify or ground our ethical beliefs, an issue that is hotly debated at the level of metaethics. In its particular versions, for deontology there is the question of how to justify its claims that certain moral rules are the correct ones, and for utilitarianism of how to justify its claim that the only thing that really matters morally is consequences for happiness or well-being. For virtue ethics, the problem concerns the question of which character traits are the virtues.

In the metaethical debate, there is widespread disagreement about the possibility of providing an external foundation for ethics — "external" in the sense of being external to ethical beliefs — and the same disagreement is found amongst deontologists and utilitarians. Some believe that ethics can be placed on a secure basis, resistant to any form of scepticism, such as what anyone rational desires, or would accept or agree on, regardless of their ethical outlook; others that it cannot.

Virtue ethicists have eschewed any attempt to ground virtue ethics in an external foundation while continuing to maintain that their claims can be validated. Some follow a form of Rawls' coherentist approach (Slote 2001, Swanton 2003); neo-Aristotelians a form of ethical naturalism.

A misunderstanding of eudaimonia as an unmoralised concept leads some critics to suppose that the neo-Aristotelians are attempting to ground their claims in a scientific account of human nature and what counts, for a human being, as flourishing. Others assume that, if this is not what they are doing, they cannot be validating their claims that, for example, justice, charity, courage, and generosity are virtues. Either they are illegitimately helping themselves to Aristotle's discredited natural teleology (Williams 1985) or producing mere rationalisations of their own personal or culturally inculcated values. But McDowell, Foot, MacIntyre and Hursthouse have all recently been outlining versions of a third way between these two extremes. Eudaimonia in virtue ethics, is indeed a moralised concept, but it is not only that. Claims about what constitutes flourishing for human beings no more float free of scientific facts about what human beings are like than ethological claims about what constitutes flourishing for elephants. In both cases, the truth of the claims depends in part on what kind of animal they are and what capacities, desires and interests the humans or elephants have.

The best available science today (including evolutionary theory and psychology) supports rather than undermines the ancient Greek assumption that we are social animals, like elephants and wolves and unlike polar bears. No rationalising explanation in terms of anything like a social contract is needed to explain why we choose to live together, subjugating our egoistical desires in order to secure the advantages of co-operation. Like other social animals, our natural impulses are not solely directed towards our own pleasures and preservation, but include altruistic and cooperative ones.

This basic fact about us should make more comprehensible the claim that the virtues are at least partially constitutive of human flourishing and also undercut the objection that virtue ethics is, in some sense, egoistic.

(v) The egotism objection has a number of sources. One is a simple confusion. Once it is understood that the fully virtuous agent characteristically does what she should without inner conflict, it is triumphantly asserted that "she is only doing what she wants to do and is hence being selfish." So when the generous person gives gladly, as the generous are wont to do, it turns out she is not generous and unselfish after all, or at least not as generous as the one who greedily wants to hang on to everything she has but forces herself to give because she thinks she should! A related version ascribes bizarre reasons to the virtuous agent, unjustifiably assuming that she acts as she does because she believes that acting thus on this occasion will help her to achieve eudaimonia. But "the virtuous agent" is just "the agent with the virtues" and it is part of our ordinary understanding of the virtue terms that each carries with it its own typical range of reasons for acting. The virtuous agent acts as she does because she believes that someone's suffering will be averted, or someone benefited, or the truth established, or a debt repaid, or ... thereby.

It is the exercise of the virtues during one's life that is held to be at least partially constitutive of eudaimonia, and this is consistent with recognising that bad luck may land the virtuous agent in circumstances that require her to give up her life. Given the sorts of considerations that courageous, honest, loyal, charitable people wholeheartedly recognise as reasons for action, they may find themselves compelled to face danger for a worthwhile end, to speak out in someone's defence, or refuse to reveal the names of their comrades, even when they know that this will inevitably lead to their execution, to share their last crust and face starvation. On the view that the exercise of the virtues is necessary but not sufficient for eudaimonia , such cases are described as those in which the virtuous agent sees that, as things have unfortunately turned out, eudaimonia is not possible for them. (Foot 2001, 95) On the Stoical view that it is both necessary and sufficient, a eudaimon life is a life that has been successfully lived (where "success" of course is not to be understood in a materialistic way) and such people die knowing not only that they have made a success of their lives but that they have also brought their lives to a markedly successful completion. Either way, such heroic acts can hardly be regarded as egoistic.

A lingering suggestion of egoism may be found in the misconceived distinction between so-called "self-regarding" and "other-regarding" virtues. Those who have been insulated from the ancient tradition tend to regard justice and benevolence as real virtues, which benefit others but not their possessor, and prudence, fortitude and providence (the virtue whose opposite is "improvidence" or being a spendthrift) as not real virtues at all because they benefit only their possessor. This is a mistake on two counts. Firstly, justice and benevolence do, in general, benefit their possessors, since without them eudaimonia is not possible. Secondly, given that we live together, as social animals, the "self-regarding" virtues do benefit others — those who lack them are a great drain on, and sometimes grief to, those who are close to them (as parents with improvident or imprudent adult offspring know only too well.)

The most recent objection (vi) to virtue ethics claims that work in "situationist" social psychology shows that there are no such things as character traits and thereby no such things as virtues for virtue ethics to be about (Doris 1998, Harman 1999). But virtue ethicists claim in response that the social psychologists' studies are irrelevant to the multi-track disposition (see above) that a virtue is supposed to be (Sreenivasan 2002 ). Mindful of just how multi-track it is, they agree that it would be reckless in the extreme to ascribe a demanding virtue such as charity to people of whom they know no more than that they have exhibited conventional decency; this would indeed be 'a fundamental attribution error.'

As noted under "Preliminaries" above, a few non-Aristotelian forms of virtue ethics have developed. The most radical departure from the ancient Greek tradition is found in Michael Slote's 'agent-based' approach (Slote 2001) inspired by Hutcheson, Hume, Martineau and the feminist ethics of care. Slote's version of virtue ethics is agent-based (as opposed to more Aristotelian forms which are said to be agent-focused) in the sense that the moral rightness of acts is based on the virtuous motives or characters of the agent. However, the extent of the departure has been exaggerated. Although Slote discusses well-being rather than eudaimonia, and maintains that this consists in certain "objective" goods, he argues that virtuous motives are not only necessary but also sufficient for well-being. And although he usually discusses (virtuous) motives rather than virtues, it is clear that his motives are not transitory inner states but admirable states of character, such as compassion, benevolence and caring. Moreover, although he makes no mention of practical wisdom, such states of character are not admirable, not virtuous motives, unless they take the world into account and are 'balanced', in (we must suppose) a wise way. The growing interest in ancient Chinese ethics currently tends to emphasise its common ground with the ancient Greek tradition but, as it gains strength, it may well introduce a more radical departure.

Although virtue ethics has grown remarkably in the last twenty years,it is still very much in the minority, particularly in the area of applied ethics. Many editors of big textbook collections on "bioethics", or "moral problems" or "biomedical ethics" now try to include articles representative of each of the three normative approaches but are often unable to find any virtue ethics article addressing a particular issue. This is sometimes, no doubt, because "the" issue has been set up as a deontologicial/utilitarian debate, but it is often simply because no virtue ethicist has yet written on the topic. However, the last few years have seen the first collection on applied virtue ethics (Walker and Ivanhoe 2007)and increasing attention to the virtues in role ethics.This area can certainly be expected to grow in the future, and it looks as though applying virtue ethics in the field of environmental ethics may prove particularly fruitful (Sandler 2007).

Whether virtue ethics can be expected to grow into "virtue politics" — i.e. to extend from moral philosophy into political philosophy — is not so clear. Although Plato and Aristotle can be great inspirations as far as the former is concerned, neither, on the face of it, are attractive sources of insight where politics is concerned. However, Nussbaum's most recent work (Nussbaum 2006) suggests that Aristotelian ideas can, after all, generate a satisfyingly liberal political philosophy. Moreover, as noted above, virtue ethics does not have to be neo-Aristotelian. It may be that the virtue ethics of Hutcheson and Hume can be naturally extended into a modern political philosophy (Hursthouse 1990-91; Slote 1993.)

Following Plato and Aristotle, modern virtue ethics has always emphasised the importance of moral education, not as the inculcation of rules but as the training of character. In 1982, Carol Gilligan wrote an influential attack ( In a Different Voice) on the Kantian-inspired theory of educational psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg. Though primarily intended to criticize Kohlberg's approach as exclusively masculinist, Gilligan's book unwittingly raised many points and issues that are reflected in virtue ethics. Probably Gilligan has been more effective than the academic debates of moral philosophers, but one way or another, there is now a growing movement towards virtues education, amongst both academics (Carr 1999) and teachers in the classroom.

• Adams, Robert Merihew, 2006, A Theory of Virtue, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Annas, Julia, 1993, The Morality of Happiness, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Baron, Marcia W., Philip Pettit and Michael Slote, 1997, Three Methods of Ethics, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Crittenden, Paul, 1990, Learning to be Moral, New Jersey: Humanities Press International.
• Dent, N.J.H., 1984, The Moral Psychology of the Virtues, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Driver, Julia, 2001, Uneasy Virtue , New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Foot, Philippa, 1978, Virtues and Vices , Oxford: Blackwell.
• –––, 2001, Natural Goodness , Oxford, Clarendon Press
• Galston, William, 1991, Liberal Purposes: Goods, Virtues and Diversity in the Liberal State , New York, Cambridge University Press
• Geach, Peter, 1977, The Virtues, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Goldie, Peter, 2004, On Personality, London: Routledge.
• Halwani, Raja, 2003, Virtuous Liaisons, Chicago: Open Court.
• Hudson, Stephen, 1986, Human Character and Morality, Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
• Hooker, Brad, 2000, Ideal Code, Real World, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Hurka, Thomas, 2001, Virtue, Vice, and Value, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Hursthouse, Rosalind, 1999, On Virtue Ethics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• MacIntyre, Alasdair, 1985, After Virtue, London, Duckworth, 2 nd Edition.
• –––, 1999, Dependent Rational Animals, Chicago: Open Court.
• Nussbaum, Martha Craven, 2006, Frontiers of Justice, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
• Slote, Michael, 2001, Morals from Motives, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Swanton, Christine, 2003, Virtue Ethics: A Pluralistic View, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Taylor, Gabriele, 2006, Deadly Vices, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Tessman, Lisa, 2005, Burdened Virtues, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Williams, Bernard, 1985, Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

B. Anthologies

• Carr, David and Jan Steutel (eds.), 1999, Virtue Ethics and Moral Education, New York: Routledge.
• Chappell, T. (ed.), 2006, Values and Virtues, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Crisp, Roger (ed.), 1996, How Should One Live? Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Crisp, Roger and Michael Slote (eds.), 1997, Virtue Ethics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Darwall, Stephen (ed.), 2003, Virtue Ethics, Oxford: Blackwell.
• Flanagan, Owen and Amelie Oksenberg Rorty (eds.), 1990, Identity, Character and Morality, Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press.
• French, Peter A., Theodore Uehling,Jr., and Howard Wettstein (eds.), 1988, Midwest Studies in Philosophy Vol. XIII Ethical Theory: Character and Virtue, Notre Dame, Indiana, University of Notre Dame Press.
• Statman, D. (ed.), 1997a, Virtue Ethics, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Walker, Rebecca L. and Philip J. Ivanhoe (eds.), 2007, Working Virtue, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

C. Survey Articles

• Annas, Julia, "Virtue Ethics", forthcoming in a collection of David Copp's
• Oakley, J. "Varieties of Virtue Ethics", Ratio 9, (1996), pp.128-52
• Statman, Daniel,1997b, "Introduction to Virtue Ethics", in Statman, 1997a: 1-41
• Swanton, Christine, 2003, "75 Virtue Ethics", in International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences , Elsevier Science, www.e-products.elsevier.com
• Trianosky, Gregory Velazco y., 1990, "What is Virtue ethics All About?", American Philosophical Quarterly , 27: 335-44, reprinted in Statman, 1997a

D. Articles

• Athanassoulis, Nafsika, 2000, "A Response to Harman: Virtue Ethics and Character Traits," Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series, Vol C, pp. 215-221.
• Anscombe, G.E.M., 1958, "Modern Moral Philosophy", Philosophy 33:1-19
• Badhwar, N.K., 1996,"The Limited Unity of Virtue", Nous 30:306-29.
• Doris, John M.(1998), "Persons, Situations and Virtue Ethics," Nous 32:4, 504-30.
• Foot, Philippa, 1994, "Rationality and Virtue", in H. Pauer-Studer (ed.), Norms, Values , and Society , Amsterdam, Kluwer, 205-16
• –––, 1995, "Does Moral Subjectivism Rest on a Mistake?", Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 15, 1-14
• Galston, William, 1992, "Introduction", in J.W. Chapman and W. Galston (eds.) Virtue. Nomos 34: 1-14
• Geach, P.T., 1956, "Good and Evil", Analysis 17: 33-42
• Harman,G. (1999), "Moral Philosophy Meets Social Psychology: Virtue Ethics and the fundamental Attribution Error," Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society New Series Vol CXIX, 316-31.
• Hursthouse, Rosalind, 1990-1, "After Hume's Justice", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society , 91: 229-45
• McDowell, John, 1979, "Virtue and Reason", Monist 62: 331-50
• –––, 1980, "The Role of Eudaimonia in Aristotle's Ethics", reprinted in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics , ed. Amelie Oksenberg Rorty, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1980, 359-76
• –––, 1995, "Two Sorts of Naturalism", in Virtues and Reasons , R. Hursthouse, G. Lawrence and W.Quinn (eds.), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 149-79
• Nussbaum, Martha, 1988, Non-relative virtues: An Aristotelian Approach", in French et al. 1988, 32- 53.
• –––, 1990, "Aristotelian Social Democracy", in R. Douglass, G. Mara, and H. Richardson (eds.), Liberalism and the Good , New York, Routledge, 203-52
• Pincoffs, Edmund L., 1971, "Quandary Ethics", Mind 80: 552-71
• Slote, Michael, 1993, "Virtue ethics and Democratic Values", Journal of Social Philosophy 14: 5-37
• Solomon, David, 1988, "Internal Objections to Virtue Ethics", in French et al , 428-41, reprinted in Statman 1997a.
• Sreenivasan, Gopal, 2002, "Errors about Errors: Virtue Theory and Trait Attribution," Mind 111 (January): 47-68.
• Stocker, Michael, 1976, "The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories", Journal of Philosophy 14:453-66
• Swanton, Christine, 1995, "Profiles of the Virtues", Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 76:47-72.
• –––, 1998, "Outline of a Nietzschean Virtue Ethics", International Studies in Philosophy 30: 29-38.
• Watson, Gary, 1990, "On the Primacy of Character", in Flanagan and Rorty, 449-83, reprinted in Statman, 1997a.
• Literature on Aristotle and Virtue Ethics , Ethics Updates, Larry Hinman, U. San Diego
• Bibliography on Virtue Ethics (in PDF, listed alphabetically), and Bibliography on Virtue Ethics (in PDF, listed chronologically), by Jörg Schroth.

Aristotle | character, moral | consequentialism | ethics: deontological | moral dilemmas

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In praise of irritation

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The virtue of discretion

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The Classification of Character Strengths and Virtues

This handbook also intends to provide an empirical theoretical framework that will assist positive psychology practitioners in developing practical applications for the field.

There are 6 classes of virtues that are made up of 24 character strengths:

• Wisdom and Knowledge
• Transcendence

Researchers approached the measurement of “good character” based on the strengths of authenticity, persistence, kindness, gratitude, hope, humor, and more.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Strengths Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients realize your unique potential and create a life that feels energized and authentic.

This Article Contains:

What makes us strong and virtuous, the csv handbook’s list, positive psychology & character strengths and virtues.

• What Strengths do Women Score Higher?
• What Strengths do Men Score Higher?
• What Can We Learn From Both

Development of Character Strengths in Children

• Character Strengths and Wellbeing in Adolescence

Videos on Character Strengths

A take-home message.

Cultures around the world have valued the study of human strength and virtue. Psychologists have a particular interest in it as they work to encourage individuals to develop these traits. While all cultures value human virtues, different cultures express or act on virtues in different ways based on differing societal values and norms.

Martin Seligman and his colleagues studied all major religions and philosophical traditions and found that the same six virtues (i.e. courage, humanity, justice, etc.) were shared in virtually all cultures across three millennia.

Since these virtues are considered too abstract to be studied scientifically, positive psychology practitioners focused their attention on the strengths of character created by virtues, and created tools for their measurement.

The main assessment instruments they used to measure those strengths were:

• Structured interviews
• Questionnaires
• Informant Reports
• Behavioral Experiments
• Observations

The main criteria for characters strengths that they came up with are that each trait should:

• Be stable across time and situations
• Be valued in its own right, even in the absence of other benefits
• Be recognized and valued in almost every culture, be considered non-controversial and independent of politics.
• Cultures provide role models that possess the trait so other people can recognize its worth.
• Parents aim to instil the trait or value in their children.

The Handbook delves into each of these six traits. We’ve summarized key points here.

1. Virtue of Wisdom and Knowledge

The more curious and creative we allow ourselves to become, the more we gain perspective and wisdom and will, in turn, love what we are learning. This is developing the virtue of wisdom and knowledge.

Strengths that accompany this virtue involve acquiring and using knowledge:

• Creativity (e.g. Albert Einstein’s creativity led him to acquire knowledge and wisdom about the universe)
• Open-mindedness
• Love of Learning
• Perspective and Wisdom (Fun fact: many studies have found that adults’ self-ratings of perspective and wisdom do not depend on age, which contrasts the popular idea that our wisdom increases with age).

2. Virtue of Courage

The braver and more persistent we become, the more our integrity will increase because we will reach a state of feeling vital, and this results in being more courageous in character.

Strengths that accompany this virtue involve accomplishing goals in the face of things that oppose it:

• Persistence

3. Virtue of Humanity

There is a reason why Oprah Winfrey is seen as a symbol of virtue for humanitarians: on every show, she approaches her guests with respect, appreciation, and interest (social intelligence), she practices kindness through her charity work, and she shows her love to her friends and family.

Strengths that accompany this virtue include caring and befriending others:

• Social intelligence

4. Virtue of Justice

Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. He led India to independence and helped created movements for civil rights and freedom by being an active citizen in nonviolent disobedience. His work has been applied worldwide for its universality.

Strengths that accompany this virtue include those that build a healthy and stable community:

• Being an active citizen who is socially responsible, loyal, and a team member.

5. Virtue of Temperance

Being forgiving, merciful, humble, prudent, and in control of our behaviors and instincts prevents us from being arrogant, selfish, or any other trait that is excessive or unbalanced.

Strengths that are included in this virtue are those that protect against excess:

• Forgiveness and mercy
• Humility and modesty
• Self-Regulation and Self-control

6. Virtue of Transcendence

The Dalai Lama is a transcendent being who speaks openly why he never loses hope in humanity’s potential. He also appreciates nature in its perfection and lives according to what he believes is his intended purpose.

Strengths that accompany this virtue include those that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning:

• Appreciation of beauty and excellence
• Humor and playfulness
• Spirituality , or a sense of purpose

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Positive psychology practitioners can count on practical applications to help individuals and organizations identify their strengths and use them to increase and maintain their levels of wellbeing.

They also emphasize that these character strengths exist on a continuum; positive traits are regarded as individual differences that exist in degrees rather than all-or-nothing categories.

In fact, the handbook has an internal subtitle entitled “A Manual of the Sanities” because it is intended to do for psychological wellbeing what the DSM does for psychological disorders: to add systematic knowledge and ways to master new skills and topics.

Research shows that these human strengths can act as buffers against mental illness. For instance, being optimistic prevents one’s chances of becoming depressed. The absence of particular strengths may be an indication of psychopathology. Positive psychology therapists, counselors, coaches, and other psychological professions use these new methods and techniques to help build people’s strength and broaden their lives.

It should be noted that many researchers are advocating grouping these 24 traits into just four classes of strength (Intellectual, Social, Temperance, and Transcendence) or even three classes (excluding transcendence), as evidence has shown that these classes do an adequate job of capturing all 24 original traits.

Others caution that people occasionally use these traits to excess, which can become a liability to the person. For example, some people may use humor as a defense mechanism in order to avoid dealing with a tragedy.

Character strengths are the positive parts of our personality that make us feel authentic and engaged. They are a core and foundational part of who we are. Our strengths are linked to our development, wellbeing, and life satisfaction (Niemiec, 2013).

They influence how we think, act, feel, and represent what we value in ourselves and others. When we draw on our strengths, research shows we can have a more influential positive impact on others, improve our relationships, and enhance our wellbeing and happiness.

So, where can we begin? By recognizing our strengths, of course!

The VIA Survey is one validated tool that can help us discover our strengths, including those we tend to use and rely on the most (Peterson & Seligman, 2004).

Scientists found a common language of 24 character strengths that make up what is best about our personality. Everyone possesses all 24 character strengths to different degrees, so each person has a truly unique character strengths profile.

Each character strength falls under one of these six broad virtue categories, which are universal across cultures and nations:

• Wisdom : These strengths are useful in helping us learn and gather knowledge.
• Courage : These emotional strengths empower us to tackle adversity and how we tend to work through it.
• Humanity : These strengths come into play by helping us build and maintain positive, warm relationships with others.
• Justice : With these strengths, we relate to those around us in social or group situations.
• Temperance : Temperance strengths help us manage habits and protect against excess, including managing and overcoming vices.
• Transcendence : As a virtue, transcendence strengths connect us to the world around us in a meaningful way.

Knowing our strengths allows us to consciously use those that benefit us and develop those that we might find useful.

What Strengths Do Women Score Higher?

There’s an interest in identifying dominant character strengths in genders and how it is developed.

As Martin Seligman and his colleagues studied all major religions and philosophical traditions to find universal virtues, much of the research on gender and character strengths have been cross-cultural also.

In a study by Brdar, Anic, & Rijavec on gender differences and character strengths, women scored highest on the strengths of honesty, kindness, love, gratitude, and fairness.

Life satisfaction for women was predicted by zest, gratitude, hope, appreciation of beauty/excellence, and love for other women. A recent study by Mann showed that women tend to score higher on gratitude than men. Alex Linley and colleagues reported in a UK study that women not only scored higher in interpersonal strengths, such as love and kindness, but on social intelligence, too.

In a cross-cultural study in Spain by Ovejero and Cardenal, they found that femininity was positively correlated with love, social intelligence, appreciation of beauty, love of learning, forgiveness, spirituality, and creativity. The more masculine a man was, the more he correlated negatively with these character strengths.

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What Strengths Do Men Score Higher?

Brdar, Anic & Rijavac reported that men score highest on honesty, hope, humor, gratitude, and curiosity.

Their life satisfaction was predicted by creativity, perspective, fairness, and humor. Alex Linley and colleagues study showed that men scored higher than females on creativity.

Miljković and Rijavec’s study found sex differences in a sample of college students. Men not only scored higher in creativity, but also leadership, self-control, and zest. These findings are congruent with gender stereotypes, as the study by Ovejero and Cardenal in Spain showed that men did not equate typical masculine strengths with love, forgiveness, love of learning, and so on.

In a Croatian sample, Brdar and colleagues found that men viewed cognitive strengths as a greater predictor for life satisfaction. Men saw strengths such as teamwork, kindness , perspective, and courage to be a stronger connection to life satisfaction than other strengths. There is an important limitation to this sample population, as most of the participants were women.

What Can We Learn From Both?

While there are differences in character strengths between men and women, there are many that they share. Both genders saw gratitude, hope, and zest as being related to higher life satisfaction, as well as the tendency to live in accordance with the strengths that are valued in their particular culture.

Studies confirm that there is a duality between genders, but only when both genders identify strongly with gender stereotypes. It makes one wonder if men and women are inherently born with certain strengths, or if the cultural influence of certain traits prioritizes different traits based on gender norms.

Learn more about strengths and weaknesses tests here .

Park and Peterson’s study (2006) confirmed this theoretical speculation, concluding that these sophisticated character strengths usually require a degree of cognitive maturation that develops during adolescence. So although gratitude is associated with happiness in adolescents and adulthood, this is not the case in young children.

Park and Peterson’s study found that the association of gratitude with happiness starts at age seven.

“Gratitude is seen as a human strength that enhances one’s personal and relational wellbeing and is beneficial for society as a whole.”

Although most young children are not yet cognitively mature enough for sophisticated character strengths, there are many fundamental character strengths that are developed at a very early stage.

The strengths of love, zest, and hope are associated with happiness starting at a very young age. The strengths of love and hope are dependent on the infant and caregiver relationship. A secure attachment to the caregiver at infancy is more likely to result in psychological and social well adjustment throughout their lives.

The nurturing of a child plays a significant role in their development, and role modeling is an important way of teaching a child certain character strengths as they imitate behavior and can then embrace the strength as one of their own.

Most young children don’t have the cognitive maturity to display gratitude but have the ability to display love and hope. Therefore, gratitude must not be expected from a young child but must be taught.

Positive education programs have been developed to help children and adolescents focus on character strengths. There are certain character strengths in adolescents that have a clearer impact on psychological wellbeing. These strengths must be fostered to ensure life long fulfillment and satisfaction.

“Character strengths are influenced by family, community, societal, and other contextual factors. At least in theory, character strengths are malleable; they can be taught and acquired through practice.”

Gillham, et al.

17 Exercises To Discover & Unlock Strengths

Use these 17 Strength-Finding Exercises [PDF] to help others discover and leverage their unique strengths in life, promoting enhanced performance and flourishing.

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Character Strengths and Wellbeing in Adolescents

The majority of the research today on character strengths focuses on adults, despite the known importance of childhood and adolescence on character development.

Research into character strengths shows which promote positive development and prevent psychopathology.

Dahlsgaard, Park, and Peterson discovered that adolescents with higher levels of zest, hope, and leadership displayed lower levels of anxiety and depression in comparison to their peers with lower levels of these strengths. Other research findings suggested that adolescent character strengths contribute to wellbeing (Gillham, et al, 2011).

The research suggests that transcendence (eg. gratitude, meaning, and hope) predicts life satisfaction, demonstrating the importance of adolescents developing positive relationships, creating dreams, and finding a sense of purpose.

VIA Character Strengths Youth Survey

Parents, educators, and researchers have requested the VIA: institute on character strengths to develop a VIA survey that is especially aimed at youths. Take the VIA psychometric data – youth survey if you are between the ages of 10-17.

To finish off, here are some helpful videos for you to enjoy if you want to learn more about character strengths and virtues:

The measurement of character strengths and the different traits that go into making them have many applications, from life satisfaction to happiness and other wellbeing predictors. These measurement tools have been used to study how these strengths have been developed across genders and age groups.

What strengths do you possess? What implications can you see this research having in our world today? Can you see how it may apply to your own life?

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Strengths Exercises for free .

• Bowlby, J.(1969). Attachment and Loss , (Vol. I). Attachment . Basic Books, New York.
• Dahlsgaard, K.K. (2005). Is virtue more than its own reward? Character strengths and their relation to well-being in a prospective, longitudinal study of middle school-aged adolescents (Unpublished doctoral dissertation) . University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,PA.
• Gillham, J., Adams-Deutsch, Z., Werner, J., Reivich, K., Coulter-Heindl, V., Linkins, M., Seligman, M. (2011). Character strengths predict subjective well-being during adolescence. The Journal of Positive Psychology , 6(1), 31-44.
• Jolly, M., & Academia. (2006). Positive Psychology: The Science of Human Strengths . Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/6442081/Positive_Psychology_The_Science_of_Human_Strengths
• Kochanska, G. (2001). Emotional development in children with different attachment histories: The first three years. Developmental Psychology 72, pp. 474–490.
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• Niemiec, R. M. (2013). Mindfulness and character strengths . Hogrefe Publishing.
• Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2006, a). Character strengths and happiness among young children: Content analysis of parental descriptions. Journal of Happiness Studie s, 7(3), 323-341.
• Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2006, b). Moral competence and character strengths among adolescents: The development and validation of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth. Journal of adolescence , 29(6), 891-909.
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Home » Public » People » Behaviour » Difference Between Value and Virtue

Difference Between Value and Virtue

Main difference – value vs virtue.

Values and virtues are significant concepts that shape our behavior. Although most of us use words such as values, virtues, principles , morals  and ethics  interchangeably, there are subtle differences between these words. In this article, we’ll be looking in-depth at the difference between value and virtue. The main difference between value and virtue is that values are principles or standards of behavior that help one to decide what is important in life whereas virtues are qualities that are universally or generally considered to be good and desirable.

This article explains, 

1. What are Values?      – Definition, Characteristics, Examples

2. What are Virtues?      – Definition, Characteristics, Examples, Religious Views

What are Values

Values are principles or standards that are considered as important or desirable. They can be defined as “principles or standards of behaviour; one’s judgement of what is important in life” (Oxford dictionary). They are the standards that form the foundation of an individual’s character, shaping his personality, attitudes, behavior, and perceptions . It is these values that help us to make different choices in our lives.

Values are often subjective – each individual may have a set of values that are unique to him. This happens because each of us gives important to different things. For example, one might think that honesty  is better than kindness whereas one might put more value in kindness above all other qualities. These different values govern how we behave. For example, suppose your friend is wearing a dress that does not look good on her. If you value candor above all, you might say outright that the dress looks horrible, but if you put more value on being kind, you’d not directly say that it looks horrible.

Values of a person can be based on various elements such as his or her family and social background, culture, religion, and experience. Values may also change over time.

What are Virtues

Virtues are qualities that are considered to be good or desirable in a person. Virtues have high moral value. A morally excellent person has many virtues such as honesty, trustworthiness, patience, kindness, courage, etc.  Vice is the opposite of virtue. Virtues compel a person to always do the right thing no matter the cost. Virtues may also be influenced by different factors such as culture and religion. Thus, different individuals may have different views on virtues.

Different religions also have different virtues. For example, Christianity has seven heavenly virtues: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility; the four brahmavihara in Buddhism can also be viewed as virtues: meththa (loving kindness), karuna ( compassion ), muditha (altruistic joy), andupekka (equanimity).

The seven heavenly virtues: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility

Value: Values are principles or standards that are considered as important or desirable.

Virtue: Virtues are qualities that are considered to be good or desirable in a person.

Moral Excellence

Value: All values may not be desirable or have moral goodness.

Virtue: Virtues have high moral values.

Value: Values are subjective and personal since an individual can decide what is important to him or her.

Virtue: Virtues are qualities that are universally accepted to have high moral value.

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“Anton Francesco dello Scheggia – The Seven Virtues – Google Art Project” By Anton Francesco dello Scheggia (Documented from 1465 – 1476)Details of artist on Google Art Project – RAE07M59BboKdA at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia

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The Four Values Framework: Fairness, Respect, Care and Honesty

• Open Access
• First Online: 29 May 2019

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• Doris Schroeder 8 ,
• Kate Chatfield 8 ,
• Michelle Singh 9 ,
• Roger Chennells 10 &
• Peter Herissone-Kelly 11  

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance ((BRIEFSREINGO))

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Values inspire, motivate and engage people to discharge obligations or duties. This chapter defends the values approach in the context of guarding against ethics dumping, the practice of exporting unethical research from higher-income to lower-income settings. A number of essential questions will be answered: What are values? What is the meaning of the word “value”? Why does it make sense to choose values as an instrument to guide ethical action in preference to other possibilities? And what is meant by fairness, respect, care and honesty? It is concluded that values can provide excellent guidance and aspiration in the fight against ethics dumping, and are therefore a well-chosen structure for the Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings.

You have full access to this open access chapter,  Download chapter PDF

Introduction

Many celebrated documents which advocate for a better world include a preamble that mentions values. For instance, at the international level, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN 1948 ) lists four values in the first sentence: dignity, freedom, justice and peace in the world. The first sentence of the Convention on Biological Diversity (UN 1992 ) refers to “the intrinsic value of biological diversity and of the ecological, genetic , social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic values of biological diversity” (emphasis added).

Other national or professional codes have incorporated values prominently into individual articles. For instance, at the national level in the UK, the first item of The Code: Professional Standards of Practice and Behaviour for Nurses, Midwives and Nursing Associates , reads: “Treat people with kindness, respect and compassion” (NMC 2018 ).

In some codes one has to search to find obvious references to values as they are often incorporated in a more implicit manner, such as in the Declaration of Helsinki (WMA 2013 ), which speaks of “safety , effectiveness, efficiency, accessibility and quality” in article 6.

When developing the Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings (GCC), a unique approach emerged naturally from the process employed. Its underpinning values materialized ahead of its final articles through an investigation into the risks of exploitation in international collaborative research (Chapter 5 ), and from a global engagement and fact-finding mission (Chapter 6 ).

It soon became clear that fairness, respect, care and honesty are all lacking, or deficient, whenever ethics dumping Footnote 1 occurs, and that a loss of trust in researchers and research itself can result. What also emerged is that these values are shared across the range of cultures that were represented in the TRUST Footnote 2 consortium. It was therefore possible to surmise that these shared values are vital for equitable research partnerships and to prevent ethics dumping . In other words, these values are necessary to foster an ethical culture in research, and are therefore values to which all researchers should aspire.

This chapter will answer some essential questions: What are values? What is the meaning of the word “value”? Why does it make sense to choose values as an instrument to guide ethical action in preference to other possibilities? And finally, what is meant by “fairness”, “respect”, “care” and “honesty”?

The Meaning of “Value”

Values pervade human experience (Ogletree 2004 ), and references to “values” are ubiquitous. With vast numbers of articles, books and internet sites offering advice on matters such as values we should live by , discovering our own values , changing our core values and achieving success through values , it is obvious that values are important to people.

The term “value” can be used in many different ways. Footnote 3 With reference to the way in which people use the term, three primary meanings of “value” can be distinguished (see Fig. 3.1 ).

The meaning of value

First, value can refer to measurability. Mathematics operates with values, which can, for example, be discrete or continuous. Artists might speak of colours having values, meaning the relative lightness or darkness of a colour. In music, a note value determines the duration of a musical note. Economists or art dealers might measure value in monetary terms; a particular company or a particular painting might be valued at a certain amount of money. Value, in this sense of the word, has no relationship to values such as admiration, approval or motivation.

Secondly, people can value certain features or entities. For instance, somebody might value money, fame or glory. For value to exist, there must be an agent (a person) who is doing the valuing, and the feature or entity must be worth something to this agent (Klein 2017 ). The values of one individual can be very different from those of another person. For instance, a regular income is worth a lot to a person who values routine and security ; it can contribute to their wellbeing and happiness. Others, who value personal freedom more than routine and security, might be just as happy with occasional income, as long as they are not bound to a nine-to-five job. If most humans around the world value a particular thing, it can be described as a universal value.

Thirdly, values can refer to goals and ambitions, with a moral connotation. In business literature, for example, one often finds reference to value-led management or organizational values, and many institutions make a point of establishing, promoting and broadcasting their values. For instance, the stated values of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), at which several of the authors of this book are based, are: common sense, compassion, teamwork, attention to detail and trust (UCLan nd ). These values are all morally positive and they are intended to guide the actions of students, staff and the institution itself. In this third sense of the word, moral values “will enable us to determine what is morally right or what is valuable in particular circumstances” (Raz 2001 : 208). If most humans around the world share a particular moral value, it can be described as a universal moral value.

There are numerous advantages to having credible moral values at the level of organizations. Such values influence the culture of an organization (Martins and Coetzee 2011 ), which in turn has a positive impact upon corporate performance (Ofori and Sokro 2010 ), and job stress and satisfaction (Mansor and Tayib 2010 ), as well as business performance and competitive advantage (Crabb 2011 ). Furthermore, when employees’ values are aligned with organizational values, this benefits both the wellbeing of individuals and the success of the organization (Posner 2010 ).

There are many internet sites that offer lists of core values. One of them (Threads Culture nd ) includes 500 values, from “above and beyond” to “work life balance”. Not all of these are moral values. For instance, this particular list includes values such as clean, exuberant, hygienic, neat, poised and winning (Threads Culture nd ). Another site lists 50 values, including authenticity, loyalty and wisdom, and advises that fewer than five should be selected for leadership purposes (Clear nd ).

The GCC is structured around four moral values: fairness, respect, care and honesty. These four values were not chosen from any existing lists; they emerged through in-depth consultation efforts around the globe (chapter 6 ). But why did the TRUST team choose moral values rather than other action-guiding moral modes for the GCC?

What Can Guide Moral Action?

The GCC is based on moral values, but the code authors could have opted to frame the code and guide action in other ways, including the following:

Standards is a technical term used to achieve desired action. Standards are precise and give exact specifications, which are in many cases measurable, as in the maximum vehicle emissions allowed for cars. Standards can also be used in ethics. For instance, a well-known voluntary standard to guide ethical action is ISO 26000 (ISO not dated), developed by the International Organization for Standardization. ISO 26000 assesses the social responsibility of companies. Its guidance includes prohibitions against bribery , and the requirement to be accountable for any environmental damage caused.

Principles are behavioural rules for concrete action. When you know the principle, you know what to do. For instance, in dubio pro reo has saved many innocent people from going to jail as it gives the courts very concrete advice. Literally translated, it means, “when in doubt, then for the accused” (a person remains innocent until proven guilty). This principle goes back to both Aristotle and Roman law.

Virtues are beneficial character traits that human beings need to flourish (Foot 1978 : 2f). One can observe them in real people or in fictional characters. England’s semimythical Robin Hood, for instance, is seen as courageous and benevolent. He fights a David-and-Goliath battle against the Sheriff of Nottingham (courage) so that the poor have food (benevolence). Like values, for virtues to exist, there must be an agent (a person) who is being virtuous; virtues focus on the moral agent rather than on the standard or principle that underlies a decision.

Ideals drive towards perfection and are highly aspirational. Some people will say “in an ideal world” to denote that something is unrealistic from the start. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle argued that we should strive towards perfection of character and that ideals can be guiding lights in character building. “Good character is an ideal outside of oneself that all strive for” (Mitchell 2015 ).

So why were values chosen as the foundation for the GCC rather than standards , principles , virtues or ideals ?

Ideals are the most aspirational of the concepts available to guide ethical action. However, hardly anybody can live up to all of their ideals. If one phrased an ethics code around ideals, those who should be led by the code might suggest that not reaching the ideals on every occasion would be acceptable. This is not the case. The 23 articles of the GCC (chapter 2 ) are not aspirational. They are mandatory.

Virtues are found both historically and internationally in many important documents of learning and wisdom. Famously, Aristotle (384–322 BC) linked human “happiness and wellbeing” to “leading an ethical life”, guided by the cardinal values of courage, justice, modesty and wisdom (Aristotle 2004 ). According to Confucianism, the most important traditional virtues are said to be benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, trustworthiness, filial piety, loyalty and reciprocity (Wang et al. 2018 ). Virtues are a good way to drive ethical action, in particular global ethical action, but the TRUST team had good reason not to use virtues as the foundation of the GCC.

Virtues can be regarded as embodied ethical values because they are manifested in persons. One can learn a lot by observing real people (such as Mother Theresa or Nelson Mandela) and following their example. This makes virtue approaches very useful in leadership and mentoring (Resnik 2012 ). But not every researcher has access to mentors and learning via example. Besides, early career researchers are said to benefit more from rule-based approaches (Resnik 2012 ). Hence, while virtues were considered as a possibility for the foundation of the GCC, they were excluded because of their strong reliance upon the availability of role models.

Principles have a long-standing tradition in practical moral frameworks, especially principlism , the moral framework relating to bioethics developed by Beauchamp and Childress ( 2013 ). As argued in Chapter 4 , we believe that the four principles of Beauchamp and Childress – autonomy, non-maleficence (do no harm ), beneficence and justice – should instead be called values. Principles, as we understand them, are more concrete than values. Principles can provide almost immediate and very straightforward answers to ethical questions.

A famous principle in political philosophy is Rawls’s difference principle . The principle holds that divergence from an egalitarian distribution of social goods (e.g. income, wealth, power ) is only allowed when this non-egalitarian distribution favours the least advantaged in society (Rawls 1999 : 65–70). In other words, if a particularly talented wealth creator increases the overall wealth pie so that the least advantaged in society are better off, she can receive a bigger share of the pie than others. Knowing about this principle gives answers to social philosophy questions, which the value of fairness or justice would not. Rawls applied the value of fairness to derive the more concrete difference principle . Principles are therefore too concrete and too prescriptive to form the foundation of the GCC. They would not leave enough room for local agreements between partners from high- and lower-income settings as envisaged by various GCC articles, such as article 1: “Local relevance of research … should be determined in collaboration with local partners.”

Standards are even more specific than principles and have an even stronger action-guiding function. They prescribe very concrete activities in given settings. To formulate standards for ethical interaction between partners from different settings would certainly be too prescriptive. A standard cannot be diverged from (for example, a limit to vehicle emissions). For instance, if article 10 Footnote 4 were a standard, no exception to double ethics review would be possible. But there may be good reason to allow such an exception in certain circumstances. For instance, if ethics approval has been given in a high-income setting and community approval obtained in a host setting where no ethics committee operates, then it may be perfectly ethical to proceed.

The San community in South Africa , for instance, has no facility for providing ethics committee approval , but the South African San Council can provide community approval for research projects in the community (Chapter 7 ). A standard of double ethics review would forbid any research in the San community until an ethics committee were established, which might even undermine the San people’s self-determined research governance structures. For this reason, it is clear that standards are too prescriptive to be applied to every setting, and might hinder valuable research.

This leaves ethical values , which operate as guides on the route to doing the right thing and are not overly prescriptive. They do not undermine the need to develop bespoke agreements across cultures via discussions between research teams and communities. At the same time, there is another, positive reason to choose values as the foundation for the GCC. Values inspire and motivate people to take action – and that is exactly what is needed to guard against ethics dumping .

Values and Their Motivating Power

Research stakeholders who are guided by values will hopefully be inspired and motivated by the GCC and not just follow its rules reluctantly or grudgingly. Why is that? Values can serve as motivating factors in promoting or inhibiting human action (Marcum 2008 , Locke 1991 , Ogletree 2004 ). The influence of personal values upon behaviour has become a subject of extensive research in the social sciences and in psychology, particularly over the past forty years, with just about every area of life being examined through the lens of personal values – for example, consumer practices (Pinto et al. 2011 ), political voting habits (Kaufmann 2016 ), employee creativity (Sousa and Coelho 2011 ), healthcare decisions (Huijer and Van Leeuwen 2000 ), investment decisions (Pasewark and Riley 2010 ), and sexuality and disability (Wolfe 1997 ), to name but a few.

Arguably the most prominent theory of the motivational power of human values was developed by social psychologist Shalom Schwartz, back in 1992. Schwartz’s theory of basic values is distinctive because, unlike most other theories, it has been tested via extensive empirical investigation. Studies undertaken since the early 1990s have generated large data sets from 82 countries, including highly diverse geographic, cultural, religious, age and occupational groups (Schwartz 2012 ). Findings from Schwartz’s global studies indicate that values are inextricably linked to affect. He claims that when values are activated, they become infused with feeling (Schwartz 2012 ). For example, people for whom routine and security are important values will become disturbed when their employment is threatened and may fall into despair if they actually lose their jobs. Correspondingly, when moral values like fairness or respect are important, people will react when they witness instances of unfairness or disrespect; they will feel motivated to respond in some way.

Schwartz’s research investigated motivational values in general (combining our second and third meanings of “value”), and not just moral values. As noted earlier, people can be motivated by many different values, but interestingly, when asked to rank values in order of importance, the participants in Schwartz’s studies consistently rated those with explicit moral connotations as the most important values (Schwartz 2012 ). This suggests that people hold their moral values in high esteem and can be strongly influenced by them.

From Values to Action

Ethical values give us direction but are not sufficient to make us ethical researchers who avoid ethics dumping . One can hold the value of honesty and yet fail to be an honest person. One can hold the value of respect and yet cause harm when disrespecting local customs . Values can motivate and they can help to establish moral goals, but they do not explain how to achieve them. A means of operationalizing values is needed.

One method would be to cultivate virtues that are aligned with the values. As noted above, virtues are positive character traits individuals build over time which are needed for human flourishing. Once a value such as honesty becomes second nature, one can say that honesty is a virtue of that person. If all researchers developed the virtues of fairness, respect, care and honesty, then being an ethical researcher would come naturally to them. However, this is far from easy, and the development of virtues takes time. It is perhaps possible for researchers who have worked in the field for many years, and have a wealth of knowledge and experience, but certainly not for young researchers who need training , guidance and practice.

Daniel Russell ( 2015 : 37f) illustrates the challenge for virtue ethics in guiding specific action when he asks us to think about generosity:

Sometimes helping means giving a little, sometimes it means giving a lot; sometimes it means giving money, sometimes it means giving time, or just a sympathetic ear; sometimes it means offering advice, sometimes it means minding one’s own business; and which of these it might mean in this case will depend on such different things as my relationship with my friend, what I am actually able to offer, why and how often my friend has problems of this kind, and so on.

For all those who are still developing their virtues , a code such as the GCC can help to guide action. As noted at the outset, people are much more contented and productive when their own values are aligned with company or institutional values and rules. It therefore made sense to align the articles of the GCC with those values that are necessary for ethical research and to which researchers must aspire. The values of fairness, respect, care and honesty provide the ethos, the motivation and the goals for ethical research. The 23 articles making up the GCC therefore enable operationalization of the values.

This leaves the task of outlining what is meant by each of the four values of fairness, respect, care and honesty, keeping in mind the following important points. First, precise specifications of values might be affected by customs and preferences, so that different cultures have different views on the exact content of the values. Second, the importance of process cannot be underestimated. The reason why articles 2 Footnote 5 and 4 Footnote 6 of the GCC emphasize inclusion is that the specification of what each value requires in a given setting needs to be determined collaboratively. As a result, this sketch of the content of the four values is brief and leaves room for regional variations.

The Four Values

The terms “fairness”, “justice” and “equity” are often used interchangeably. The TRUST consortium chose the term “fairness” in the belief that it would be the most widely understood globally. Philosophers commonly distinguish between four types of fairness (Pogge 2006 ) (see Fig. 3.2 ).

Types of fairness

The most relevant fairness concepts in global research ethics are fairness in exchange and corrective fairness. In global collaborations, at least two parties are involved in a range of transactions. Typical fairness issues between partners from high-income countries (HICs) and those from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are:

Is the research relevant to local research needs?

Will benefit sharing take place?

Are authors from LMICs involved in publications?

These are questions about fairness in exchange . For instance, LMIC research participants contribute to the progress of science, but this is only fair if the research is relevant to their own community or if other benefits are received where this is not possible. For instance, to carry the burden of a clinical study is only worthwhile for a community if the disease under investigation occurs locally and the end product will become available locally.

Corrective fairness , which presupposes the availability of legal instruments and access to mechanisms to right a wrong (e.g. a complaints procedure , a court, an ethics committee ) is also important in global research collaborations. For instance, if no host country research ethics structure exists, corrective fairness is limited to the research ethics structure in the HIC , which may not have the capacity to make culturally sensitive decisions.

The broader question of what HICs owe LMICs falls under distributive fairness . One can illustrate the difference between fairness in exchange and distributive fairness using the example of post-study access to successfully tested drugs. In the first case (fairness in exchange) one could argue that research participants have contributed to the marketing of a particular drug and are therefore owed post-study access to it (should they need the drug to promote their health and wellbeing, and should they not otherwise have access to it). In the second case (distributive fairness) one could provide a range of arguments, for instance being a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN 1948 ) , to maintain that all human beings who need the drug should have access to it, and not just the research participants . These wider fairness issues cannot be resolved by researchers and are therefore not directly included in the GCC. Likewise, retributive fairness is less relevant as few ethics violations fall under the punitive and criminal law, and if they do, it is indeed criminal law that should be used to deal with a fairness violation.

The term “respect” is used in many ethics frameworks. For instance, the Declaration of Helsinki (WMA 2013 ) notes in article 7:

Medical research is subject to ethical standards that promote and ensure respect for all human subjects and protect their health and rights. (emphasis added)

Its ubiquitous use does not, however, mean that “respect” is a clear term. In everyday life, it is used in the sense of deep admiration. For instance, somebody could say, “I respect the achievements of Nelson Mandela”. However, that is not what is meant by respect in research ethics . The statement from the Declaration of Helsinki does not mean that research participants must be admired. To be respected in research ethics is almost the opposite. It means that one must accept a decision or a way of approaching a matter, even if one disagrees strongly. A case in point would be respecting the decision of a competent adult Jehovah’s Witness to refuse a blood transfusion for reasons of religious belief, even if this means certain death.

Respect is therefore a difficult value, as there will be cases where one cannot accept another’s decision. For instance, if a researcher learns about female genital mutilation being used as a “cure” for diarrhoea in female babies (Luc and Altare 2018 ), respecting this approach to health care is likely to be the wrong decision – particularly as the practice is probably illegal . But the fact that respect may be difficult to operationalize in global research collaborations does not mean that it is a value one can dispense with.

There are many possible ways of showing respect that do not create conflicts of conscience. For instance, illiterate San community members should not be enrolled in research studies unless San leaders have been contacted first, in accordance with community systems. And researchers from HICs should not insist that LMIC ethics committees accept the format of the researchers’ preferred ethics approval submission; instead the HIC researchers should submit the study for approval in the format required by the LMIC committee. This shows respect in international collaborative research.

While it may be difficult to imagine a situation where an HIC researcher is accused of being too fair, too honest or too caring, it is possible to be accused of being “too respectful” – for instance, if one tolerates major violations of human rights. It is indeed sometimes difficult to strike a balance between dogmatically imposing one’s own approach and carelessly accepting human rights violations, but that is the balance researchers should strive for.

Sometimes one word describes different concepts. This is the case with “care”. The statement, “I care for my grandfather,” can mean two diametrically opposed things. First, it could mean that the person is very attached to her grandfather even though she hardly ever sees him. Second, it could mean that she is the person who injects her grandfather with insulin, cooks his meals, and makes sure that his needs are taken care of every day, even if there is antipathy between them.

The meaning of the value of care in the context of global research ethics links more to the second use of the term; to look after or take care of somebody or something. As a main priority, one should take care of the interests of those enrolled in research studies to the extent that one always prioritizes their welfare over any other goals – for example, accepting the decisions of those who choose to withdraw from an ongoing study, even if this impairs the project’s results. In line with article 8 of the Declaration of Helsinki (WMA 2013 ) that means:

While the primary purpose of medical research is to generate new knowledge, this goal can never take precedence over the rights and interests of individual research subjects.

This care applies across disciplines, not only in medical research , and it is not restricted to human research participants . Article 21 of the Declaration of Helsinki (WMA 2013 ) extends the care for research subjects’ welfare to research animals. Likewise, care for environmental protection is increasingly included in research ethics processes and frameworks for responsible research. For instance, the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 ethics review process addresses potentially negative impacts on the environment (Directorate General for Research 2019 : section 7). Richard Owen et al. ( 2013 ) define responsible research and innovation as “a collective commitment of care for the future through responsive stewardship of science and innovation in the present”, a statement that has clear relevance to environmental protection.

Researchers who take care to avoid negative impacts in their work will not “helicopter ” in and out of a research area they are not familiar with, but will use systems of due diligence to ensure that risks are assessed and mitigated . For instance, an HIC research team that strips a local area of all doctors and nurses by attracting them into their high-tech research facility is not acting carefully and ethically.

Ideally, researchers who take good care will combine the two concepts mentioned above: they care about research participants , in the sense that the participants are important to them, and they feel responsible for the welfare and interests of those who contribute to their research, or might suffer as a result of it (including animals and the environment).

Honesty is a value that does not need complicated explanations or definitions. In all cultures and nations, “Do not lie” is a basic prerequisite for ethical human interaction. It is so basic a value that its synonyms are often broad ethics terms. For instance, according to Google ( 2018 ), synonyms for “honesty” are:

moral correctness, uprightness, honourableness, honour, integrity , morals, morality, ethics, principle, (high) principles , nobility, righteousness, rectitude, right-mindedness, upstandingness

What does need explaining, however, is the scope of the value of honesty in the context of global research ethics . Telling lies is only one possible wrongdoing in the context of a broad understanding of honesty. For instance, in research ethics it is equally unacceptable to leave out salient features from an informed consent process. While this might, strictly speaking, not involve a lie, concealing important information that might make a difference to someone’s consent violates the value of honesty as much as lying. For this reason, research ethicists often use the terms “transparency ” and “open communication ” to ensure that all relevant information is provided so that research participants can make an informed choice about whether to participate or not.

In addition to lying and withholding information, there are other ways of being dishonest, in the sense of not communicating openly and transparently. For instance, in a vulnerable population with high levels of illiteracy, it can be predicted that a printed information sheet about research will not achieve informed consent . The same can be said for a conscious failure to overcome language barriers in a meaningful way: leaving highly technical English terms untranslated in information sheets can easily lead to misunderstandings.

Honesty is also related to research conduct other than interaction with research participants . Most prominently, the duties of honesty are described in research integrity frameworks: do not manipulate your data , do not put your name onto publications to which you have not contributed, do not waste research funds, to give only three examples. However, while the latter prescriptions for conduct with integrity in research are important, they are not directly linked to exploitation in global research collaboration and are not covered in the GCC. In this context, the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (ALLEA, 2017 ) is very helpful.

Standards , principles , values, virtues and ideals can guide moral action. At the foundation of the GCC are values. Why? For three main reasons:

Values inspire action; they motivate people to do things. For instance, when the value of fairness is threatened, people normally respond with action.

Values provide the golden middle way between being overly prescriptive and overly aspirational. Standards and principles require too much precision in their formulation and are too prescriptive in international collaborative research, while virtues and ideals are too aspirational in their demands of researchers.

Values emerged naturally from the major engagement activities undertaken prior to developing the GCC.

The eradication of ethics dumping requires not only moral guidance but also moral action to counter violations of fairness, respect, care and honesty. The 23 short, accessible articles of the GCC are intended to both guide and inspire researchers to act with fairness, respect, care and honesty.

The export of unethical research from a high-income setting to a resource-poor setting with weaker compliance structures or legal governance mechanisms.

TRUST was an EU -funded project which operated from 2015 to 2018 and developed the GCC, among other outputs. http://trust-project.eu/

This section draws on unpublished work by Professor Michael Davis, a philosopher specializing in professional ethics.

Local ethics review should be sought wherever possible. It is of vital importance that research projects are approved by a research ethics committee in the host country, wherever this exists, even if ethics approval has already been obtained in the high-income setting.

Local communities and research participants should be included throughout the research process, wherever possible, from planning through to post-study feedback and evaluation , to ensure that their perspectives are fairly represented. This approach represents Good Participatory Practice .

Local researchers should be included, wherever possible, throughout the research process, including in study design, study implementation, data ownership , intellectual property and authorship of publications.

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What is virtue and why does it matter?

Contemporary education has become too technocratic and divorced from virtue. This is a disservice to students because it robs them of what a classical education provides: the tools students need to succeed, not just academically and professionally, but in the deep and abiding sense of being able to flourish as free and good human beings. It is therefore important that we put virtue back into the heart of education. To do that, however, we must be clear about what virtue is and why it matters.

The concept of virtue is most commonly traced back to classical Greek and Roman society, but is important to note that ancient Buddhist, Chinese, Hindu, Jewish, and Islamic traditions also placed virtue at the center of their account of the good life and society, and thus understood a proper education to focused on its cultivation. Though I typically refer to virtue in its more familiar European or Western context, we must remember that the concept is far more universally applicable.

When Plato and Aristotle discuss virtue, the Greek term they use is arete , which is best translated as “excellence.” Virtue, in its broadest sense, is an excellent quality of a thing that allows it to perform its function well. The virtue of a knife, for instance, is its excellent quality of sharpness because this is what allows a knife to cut well (dullness, by contrast, is a bad quality of a knife).

Obviously human beings are far more complex than knives, and yet we still have a characteristic function, which is to know and understand reality and to decide how best to organize our lives in light of this understanding. Human virtues, then, are stable dispositions of thought, action, and feeling that enable us to do this well. When we discuss virtues, we are either talking about good habits of mind that allow us to think, judge, reflect, and deliberate well, or good habits of desire that allow us to want and take our pleasure in what is truly good for us and for society.

Virtues are habits, or stable character traits. An honest man is one who tells the truth reliably, not just every now and again. And that means that he: (1) knows the value and importance of honesty; (2) tells the truth easily in a wide range of circumstances and finds it difficult to lie; and (3) is pleased by being honest and pained by the thought of being dishonest.

Virtues, as habits, are similar to but distinct from skills. Like skills, the cultivation of virtue requires training, discipline, and the acquisition of knowledge. Think of a bricklayer. He has a habit of knowledge. Put in a variety of novel circumstances, he will know how to use the relevant materials of his trade to execute his craft well. How does one acquire such a habit of knowledge? Not simply by reading a book or listening to a lecture or memorizing rules, but by practice . A master craftsman must learn his craft from another master. He must be trained over time to develop the habits of his craft under someone who already possesses them. No one is born knowing how to lay bricks—in fact, the task is quite difficult and mastery takes a long time.

Something similar is true with virtue. Unfortunately, we are not born just, honest, wise, or courageous, nor will we naturally develop these traits as we will naturally learn to walk or jump. Virtues must also be acquired, and it is the task of a proper education over time to acquire them, and children need virtuous examples to imitate. While virtue always involves knowledge first and foremost, it also involves the deliberate shaping of our faculties of perception, imagination, feeling, and desire. Virtue is a transformation of the whole person, and unlike skill, it is not ordered to the production of some specific work, but to human flourishing quite generally. Virtue, therefore, cannot be reduced to skill. To see why not, consider that an excellent grammarian can exercise her skill by displaying bad grammar in a malformed sentence and explaining what is wrong with it. But a just person cannot exercise her justice by stealing, cheating, or committing murder. Virtue is obviously a deeper, more personal transformation.

The Greeks understood that to have a flourishing society they needed to create good citizens, citizens who not only display civic virtues, such as civility, friendliness, and justice, but personal virtues, like courage, wisdom, and self-control. A proper education, which had the cultivation of virtue at its core, was ultimately a political imperative. The Greek conception of paideia was the process by which one formed an ideal type of person, someone who would embody Greek values and be equipped to realize and reproduce them in society. There is no possible discussion of education as the mere transmission of information or useful skills for the sake of work. A proper education is concerned with making young people into noble and free persons—with developing and shaping their potential so that they can flourish, both as individuals, and more crucially, as citizens in a flourishing society. The Greeks recognized that we do not flourish apart and alone, but together in common associations.

There are obstacles to the reintegration of knowledge and virtue, but it is first crucial to see what is at stake as we think creatively about how to move forward. A democracy is only as good as its citizens, and we need citizens who are not simply knowledgeable and skilled, but who have the civic and individual virtues that are necessary for society to flourish, who are honest, just, generous, civil, resourceful, self-controlled, and wise. The cultivation of these character traits should be at the heart of education.

Jennifer Frey is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina. She earned a B.A. in philosophy and medieval studies (with a classics minor) at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana. She earned her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to teaching at UofSC, she was a junior fellow in the Society of the Liberal Arts at the University of Chicago and Collegiate Assistant…

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Virtue's Reasons: New Essays on Virtue, Character, and Reasons

Noell Birondo and S. Stewart Braun (eds.), Virtue's Reasons: New Essays on Virtue, Character, and Reasons , Routledge, 2017, 210pp., $150.00 (hbk), ISBN 9781138231733.

Reviewed by Jason Kawall, Colgate University

According to the editors, Noell Birondo and S. Stewart Braun,

The main aims of this book are . . . to foster a greater appreciation for the multiplicity of reasons surrounding the concept of the virtues and to shed light on what is presumably the paradigm case, of an individual agent responding to an array of potential reasons, often in diverse circumstances and contexts. (2-3)

While the virtues are often treated as allowing agents to recognize and respond appropriately to reasons, Birondo and Braun note that there are broader connections and questions concerning the relationship between reasons and the virtues that warrant examination: for example, are there distinctive kinds of reasons to become a certain kind of person, rather than simply reasons to act or respond in certain ways? Upon what reasons can agents act appropriately while developing the virtues, and can we simply will to act upon some reasons and not others?

The current volume consists of ten chapters intended to explore the relationship(s) between virtues and reasons, divided into three parts, with a short introductory essay by Birondo and Braun. As they note in their introduction, the volume is very wide-ranging, and

By addressing a diverse set of questions on the connections between virtues and reasons, the papers here do not offer a sustained treatment of one or two core issues; instead, the papers that we have collected here form, together, a kind of kaleidoscope of issues surrounding the notion of virtue's reasons. (2)

While each of the chapters mentions reasons, and some include extended discussion of such (in varying contexts), it is virtue theory and character that truly serve to unify the volume. With respect to reasons, there is significant discussion of work by John McDowell and Robert Audi, but little overall engagement with the broader, extensive recent literature on the topic. That said, however, the chapters in this volume tend to be of a very high quality -- and some are truly excellent, with the potential to shape future discussion in the area. Given that the chapters in this volume are so diverse, with widely varying topics and approaches, I will focus on providing overviews of each, rather than attempting to provide a unified, thematic discussion.

Part I, "Reasons, Character, and Agency", consists of four papers. While there are few connections linking them, each chapter is strong and raises interesting issues in its own right. Garrett Cullity's "Moral Virtues and Responsiveness for Reasons" is extremely dense and detailed; to be honest, I've read this chapter several times and remain uncertain whether I entirely grasp all of it. In the first part of the chapter Cullity provides criteria for the application of various aretaic terms to traits and dispositions, but also to actions and other entities. These criteria vary quite significantly -- for example, whether an action is honest depends solely on the aim of the action, whereas whether an action is kind depends on its aim, but also its motive, and the manner in which it is performed. In the later parts of his paper Cullity develops a unique taxonomy of the virtues. Moral virtues are characterized by responding appropriately to morally relevant reasons, and for each response there is the reason for the response, the object of the response, and the response itself. Cullity proposes a corresponding threefold set of categories of virtue: those characterized by good responsiveness to particular reasons , those involving responding well to particular objects , and those that involve responding well to a variety of different objects or reasons; Cullity distinguishes further subcategories of each. This is the barest sketch of Cullity's chapter, and omits a great deal -- the chapter rewards multiple readings. Still, I worry that the tremendous detail, including many qualifications and exceptions to his various proposals might limit the use of Cullity's taxonomy by others.

Justin Oakley's "Remote Scenarios and Warranted Virtue Attributions" is a thoughtful, lucid paper addressing the following issue: how does the behaviour (actual or counterfactual) of agents in unlikely or remote scenarios affect our epistemic justification for attributing virtues or vices to them? For example, how would an agent's counterfactual behaviour when caught on-board a ship during a severe storm affect our justification in attributing courage to her? A highly demanding answer would hold that all such remote circumstances are relevant -- if a person would act poorly under extreme conditions, then we should not attribute courage (or other relevant virtues) to her. Robert Adams defends what Oakley refers to as a 'probabilistic' approach, where the relevance of behaviour in remote situations is a function of how likely an agent is to find herself in such circumstances. Similarly, in a given remote situation, the more likely an agent is to act well compared to a second agent, the more justified we are in attributing the relevant virtue to her. Oakley argues, plausibly, that we need to further qualify the probabilistic approach in at least two ways. First, the reason(s) why an agent is likely to act in a certain way (in a given scenario) are relevant -- is it the result of training and reflection, or mere luck? Second, we need to consider whether the agent (in actual circumstances) would approve of her actions and the reasons for them in remote scenarios. A committed utilitarian might, under extreme circumstances, leave his spouse to assist an aid group instead. While such circumstances might be unlikely, if the utilitarian would now approve of his reasons and actions under the extreme conditions, this would be relevant to our attributions of such virtues as loyalty.

In "Vice, Reasons, and Wrongdoing", Damian Cox defends a form of 'vice ethics'. Where virtue ethics defines right action in terms of virtues, vice ethics defines wrongness -- and rightness -- in terms of vices. Cox argues that reasons to avoid vicious action are typically pro tanto while reasons to perform virtuous actions are typically only prima facie . He further suggests that we can treat actions as supererogatory (most virtuous actions), merely permissible (actions that are neither virtuous nor vicious), or wrong (most vicious actions). And more precisely, with respect to right action, Cox suggests

(R) An action is right iff it is the least vicious of available actions.

(W) An action is wrong iff it is not the least vicious of available actions. (55)

Often there will be multiple actions available to an agent that are equally free of vice; all would be right. Cox develops the proposal effectively, and it certainly warrants discussion in the literature. Still, some questions arise. Consider two agents in similar circumstances making charitable donations. One merely gives five dollars without any vicious motives, while the other gives several thousand dollars, almost entirely out of generosity, but also with the hint of a vain desire to impress some friends; the generosity would have been sufficient to motivate the action. On Cox's proposal, the agent merely giving five dollars acts rightly, while the far more generous donation is wrong because of the incidental vicious motive; it would not be among the least vicious actions available. As such, trace amounts of vice could implausibly render otherwise excellent actions wrong.

"Can Virtue Be Codified? An Inquiry on the Basis of Four Conceptions of Virtue" by Peter Shiu-Hwa Tsu is the final paper of part I. Tsu argues against McDowell's well-known "uncodifiability thesis", according to which the requirements and reasons of the virtues cannot be codified into rules. After drawing attention to the complexity and ambiguity of the uncodifiability thesis (e.g. what counts as a rule?), Tsu presents four conceptions of the relationship between virtues and rules. On the particularist conception, there are not even broad generalizations that hold between virtues and rules; on the prima facie conception, any rules would only roughly capture the basic content of virtues, and would have many exceptions. According to the pro tanto conception, pro tanto rules determine what a virtuous agent should do, while "in cases of moral conflicts . . . it takes practical wisdom or judgment to determine which rule 'outweighs' which" (80). Finally, according to the absolute conception, virtuous agents act in accordance with a (or a set of) absolute, exceptionless moral principle(s); this need not involve mechanical rule-following -- we can demonstrate judgment in applying the principle(s). Tsu argues that McDowell focuses on the first two conceptions, but that the absolute and pro tanto conceptions would allow for the codifiability of the reasons of virtue, and are in fact more attractive than the rival conceptions. This is another strong chapter -- though many of the objections raised by Tsu to particularist and prima facia conceptions rely on particular features of McDowell's view that need not be embraced by all those endorsing the uncodifiability thesis.

Part II, "Reasons and Virtues in Development", is the most unified section of the volume, consisting of three chapters addressing how non-virtuous agents can develop the virtues. Ramon Das considers how such agents can act rightly despite lacking the virtues. Emer O'Hagan addresses how agents might effectively and appropriately aim at developing their own virtues. And Audi addresses the nature and place of role-modeling in the development of the virtues.

In "Virtue, Reason, and Will" Das argues that two tempting positions for virtue ethicists -- holding that right action either requires acting from good motives or reasons, or (more strongly) requires acting from firm, stable virtues -- are implausibly demanding. After all, both would seem beyond the ability of anyone who is not already virtuous -- we can't simply will ourselves to have good motives. Das suggests that we need to more carefully distinguish good motives and good reasons. Broadly, Das sees motives as (paradigmatically) desires that are involuntary, while normative reasons are cognitive and capable of producing motives. Das argues that an agent might recognize a normative reason to help a person and as a result choose to help her (voluntarily) despite the lack of an antecedent desire or motive to do so. Das provides some admittedly brief remarks in defence of this view, and in turn argues that we would be best to move away from distinctively virtue-ethical approaches to right action requiring good motives or virtues. Das concludes by arguing against Dan Russell's proposal that we sharply distinguish between right action (a form of action evaluation) and what an agent ought to do (a matter of action guidance); this proposal would undermine concerns that ordinary people cannot act rightly given standard virtue ethics. Das's critique of Russell's proposal is compelling -- particularly in arguing that if we sharply distinguish between right action and what an agent ought to do, the normative significance of rightness becomes highly unclear. This is a strong chapter, developing Das's previous, influential critiques of virtue ethics in new ways.

In her "Self-Knowledge and the Development of Virtue" O'Hagan carefully explores how agents might intentionally develop the virtues, focusing on the ways in which a morally refined self-knowledge could shape their sensitivity to virtuous reasons. O'Hagan begins by noting constraints upon the reasons for which agents might act while developing the virtues. For example, they cannot (typically) perform an action because it would be the kind thing to do and would improve their character. Rather, they would need to perform the action out of a concern for the well-being of the person they would help. The latter reflects a nascent kindness; the former a potentially problematic concern with their own virtue. O'Hagan then considers how we might shape the reasons upon which we act. She agrees with Audi that we cannot directly will ourselves to act (or not) on a given reason or set of reasons. But O'Hagan argues that our ability to direct our attention through self-knowledge and self-awareness provides us with rich indirect control over the reasons for which we act; there is no need to see ourselves as limited in this regard. For example, we might learn that people tend to overlook morally salient reasons when they are in a great hurry. This knowledge could ground a concern to reflect and pay greater attention when feeling time-pressured, allowing us to recognize reasons we might otherwise miss, and providing an important form of control over the reasons for which we act.

The final paper of Part II is Audi's insightful and wide-ranging "Aretaic Role Modeling, Justificatory Reasons, and the Diversity of the Virtues". Audi first explores the nature of role-modeling of both moral and intellectual virtues, drawing attention to often-overlooked issues (e.g. distinguishing between role-modeling as such and providing commentary upon what one is doing to a learner). He then turns to arguing that reasons are explanatorily prior to virtues -- actions from virtue must be performed for an appropriate reason (132), and role-modeling virtues requires an appreciation or responsiveness to reasons on the part of both the agent and a learner (133). If there were not prior reasons to which virtuous agents were responsive, what would explain and justify their actions? In the second half of his paper, Audi explores a wide range of virtues, with an eye towards shedding light on both intellectual and moral virtues, as well as 'cross-over' virtues that are both (such as sensitivity and consistency). Audi draws attention to the rich breadth and variety of virtues, which in turn impacts how these virtues can be successfully role-modeled. I cannot do justice here to the full range of issues addressed by Audi in this paper; there is a tremendous amount of substance and insightful reflection concerning the virtues and their development.

The final section, Part III, "Specific Virtues for Finite Rational Agents", consists of three chapters. Here again, the individual chapters are rich and rewarding, even while there are not strong thematic connections between them.

Reasons pluralists argue that there are rationally incomparable, and thereby incommensurable, kinds of reasons. A familiar worry for such views is that we would too frequently lack practical rational guidance because we so often face incomparable sets of reasons. In his "Practical Wisdom: A Virtue for Resolving Conflicts among Practical Reasons", Andrés Luco defends reasons pluralism by proposing an "Override Principle" that can apply in (many) such cases of conflict. Luco's override principle states that when we face sets of incomparable reasons, then set A overrides set B if (i) a certain action is necessary for promoting some good associated with set A, and (ii) not acting on set B would not result in the loss of any goods associated with set B (153). We would thus have a principle of practical reason that could allow us, in a wide range of cases, to rationally endorse an action, even when faced with incomparable kinds of reasons. The majority of the chapter involves Luco considering how the override principle might be applied to such decisions as whether to pursue a career in philosophy (largely grounded in self-regarding reasons) or instead to pursue a career that would help others as much as possible, as recommended by effective altruists (grounded in impartial reasons). Luco's discussion is compelling as he notes the complexities of applying the override principle. Still, while Luco arrives at plausible answers for various test scenarios, it is perhaps unclear to what extent the override principle is in fact driving these answers, and to what extent Luco is instead appealing to other factors and intuitions and then "applying" the override principle in an ad hoc fashion to capture the desired results.

The final two chapters are by the volume's editors. Braun's chapter on "The Virtue of Modesty and the Egalitarian Ethos" provides an attractive, irenic account of modesty. He first distinguishes three broad approaches to modesty in the literature: Julia Driver's influential 'ignorance' view (that requires an underestimate of the agent's own talents and achievements), perspectival views (that require seeing one's accomplishments from some particular perspective -- perhaps recognizing the roles of luck or opportunity), and de-emphasis views (that require downplaying or directing attention away from one's accomplishments). Braun's engagement with these approaches leads to his own "Egalitarian" account: "A modest agent is an agent that is disposed to act in a manner consistent with attempts to avoid establishing or endorsing distinctions in social or civic standing, ranking, or respect, which are applicable to herself, both at an institutional level and at a local community level" (176-7). As Braun notes, modesty seems to involve an unwillingness to treat oneself as more worthy than others; the egalitarian account captures this unwillingness, and the embrace of social equality could explain why modesty is a moral virtue. Certain questions do arise -- for example, if a rejection of distinctions in social ranking underlies modesty, wouldn't activism and social protest against hierarchies count as paradigmatic instances of modesty? If not, why not? Still Braun's approach seems very promising and worthy of further development.

The volume closes with Birondo's "Virtue and Prejudice: Giving and Taking Reasons". Birondo addresses a familiar worry for eudaimonistic virtue ethics: that their foundational appeal to human nature (in determining what constitutes flourishing) is bound to be problematic. Birondo focuses his attention on a recent version of the worry presented by Jesse Prinz. Broadly, Prinz argues that if eudaimonists hold that a proper understanding of eudaimonia can only be achieved by those who are themselves virtuous, problematic circularities will arise. On the other hand, if eudaimonists embrace an external standard of eudaimonia that can be identified without possession of the virtues, this standard cannot be justified -- there is too much cultural variation in conceptions of flourishing and there is no non-question-begging way of determining which of these conceptions are superior to others; we cannot justify any antecedent, universal human nature that could ground eudaimonia and the virtues. In replying to Prinz, Birondo draws stark attention to the ways in which critics of virtue ethics often ignore relevant literature and responses by virtue ethicists. According to Birondo's own response to Prinz, we must recognize that our understandings of human nature and eudaimonia are works in progress across different cultures. Birondo argues for an internalist account of eudaimonia, where the nature of eudaimonia is determined by the virtuous, but where ordinary folk can still understand this conception. He further stresses that we need to be open to both taking and giving reasons across cultures to improve and refine our conceptions of virtue and eudaimonia over time; there is no foundational appeal to an antecedently identified human nature. This is a sharp paper that effectively defends a plausible, pluralist form of eudaimonism.

Overall, this is a strong collection of insightful and often thought-provoking papers. There are, of course, some limitations; most prominently, while there are suggestive and interesting contributions to understanding the connections between reasons and virtues, the chapters vary significantly in the depth of their engagement with such issues. But understood as a wide-ranging contribution to the leading-edge literature on virtue theory and character, the volume stands up very well.

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Greek Virtues in The Odyssey

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A Complete Master List of Virtues from the Ancient Traditions

OVERVIEW : This guide reviews a list of virtues from 15 different philosophers and Wisdom Traditions spanning thousands of years.

______________

What is Virtue?

Virtues are ideal qualities and attributes considered beneficial for every individual within society.

In the context of virtues, what is considered “beneficial” is morally good or desirable for every human being.

That is, virtues hold a universal value of what’s morally good. Virtues are essential for psychological development and self-cultivation.

(More on the deeper meaning of virtues in the commentary below the master list.)

Values versus Virtues

Values and virtues both represent ideals and standards.

Values are standards of behavior. They represent what’s important to an individual . Values are aspirational.

That is, values are personal . If you take any group of people, while everyone may have a few shared values, most individuals will have different values that are meaningful to them.

Virtues , in contrast, are universal ideal standards and qualities of behavior and being. They are considered to be good for all .

All virtues have high moral values. They represent “the highest good.” However, not all values are considered morally desirable (see the examples below).

Values are internally derived. We determine our personal values based on our individual experiences. That is, values are more subjective .

Virtues are internal too, but they are also universally accepted as morally desirable. In the latter sense, they are external and objective (and inter-subjective ).

Virtue Examples

To further clarify the difference between values and virtues, let’s review some examples.

If we examine Western society, what are its collective values?

• Image (good looks; attractiveness; sexuality)
• Material possessions (big house; luxury cars; luxury brands)
• Success or achievement
• Competitiveness
• High self-esteem
• Assertiveness (being a “go-getter”)

It’s not that any of us consciously selected these values. Instead, we were born into a culture that valued these things. From a very young age, we get conditioned to value the same things by observing and watching others around us.

Yet, none of the above “values” are found in any list of virtues.

In fact, virtue examples like prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice are the antithesis of the abovementioned values.

Put another way, the default values in today’s society tend to subconsciously drive individuals away from cultivating a strong moral character (something we’ll also address below).

How Many Virtues Are There?

Because values are individualized, there are many of them. For example, here’s a list of over 200 core values .

Virtues, being focused on cultivating a strong moral character and universally applied to all, are significantly fewer in number.

As we’ll see below, a valid list of virtues will range from 4 to 15.

The virtues are meant to be actualized and lived experiences within an individual’s life. Having a list of even 15 virtues is arguably way too many.

Most traditions have between 4 and 7, which is far more realistic and actionable.

So if you see a list of virtues with 50 or 100 attributes, most likely the author is confusing virtues with values.

A List of Virtues from Various Cultures, Religions, and Philosophers

Now, let’s review various virtues lists from different cultures and periods. (I tried to list them chronologically as best I could.)

A page from The Analects

Confucius’s List of Virtues

In The Analects (written between 475 – 221 BCE), Confucious highlights the five constant virtues:

• Benevolence (Ren or Jen)
• Honesty / Uprightness (Yi)
• Knowledge / Wisdom (Zhi)
• Faithfulness / Integrity (Xin)
• Politeness / Propriety / Good Manners (Li)

Taoist Virtues

Virtues are a central feature of Taoist philosophy. In the classic Tao Te Ching by Laozi (written around 400 BCE), Te approximately translates to virtue.

A translation of Tao Te Ching in English is “The Book of the Way and Its Virtues.”

The “Three Treasures” in Taoism (different than the one in Buddhism) can be translated as:

• Benevolence (Compassion; Mercy)
• Moderation (Frugality; Restraint)
• Humility (“don’t dare to be first”)

However, a more complete list of virtues is found in the Taoist classic Understanding Reality : 1 Chang Po-tuan. Thomas Cleary (ed.), Understanding Reality , 1987.

• Benevolence
• Truthfulness

Truthfulness is considered the fulcrum or center of the other four virtues in the Taoist system.

A page from an old manuscript of The Republic

The Platonic Cardinal Virtues List

In Plato’s The Republic (around 375 BCE), Socrates outlines four cardinal virtues in his discussion of an ideal society.

Cardinal is from the Latin cardo meaning hinge. So the cardinal virtues are the primary virtues upon which all other virtues hinge.

What are Socrates’ Four Cardinal Virtues?

• Prudence (wisdom; knowing the appropriate course of action)
• Fortitude (strength; endurance; courage to face fears)
• Justice (fairness; righteousness)
• Temperance (restraint; moderation; self-control)

The Four Stoic Virtues List

The Stoics of the same era recognized the same list of virtues:

• Wisdom (prudence)
• Courage (fortitude)

Aristotle’s List of Virtues

In Nicomachean Ethics (around 335 BCE), Aristotle highlights the “science of the good for human life” in what he called Virtue Ethics.

Aristotle differentiated between two categories of virtues: moral virtues and intellectual virtues. (In a modern sense, his intellectual virtues are now considered moral as well.)

It isn’t easy to pinpoint a definitive list of virtues in Nicomachean Ethics . You’ll find lists of about 12 to 20 virtues.

His 12 moral virtues are:

• Courage (in the face of one’s fear)
• Temperance (with respect to pleasure and pain)
• Liberality (with one’s possessions)
• Magnificence (with wealth and possessions)
• Magnanimity (with great honors)
• Proper Ambition (with normal honors)
• Patience (good temper)
• Wit (in dialogue with others)
• Friendliness (in one’s social conduct)
• Modesty (in the face of shame/shamelessness)
• Righteous Indignation (in the face of injury)

Then, we come to his intellectual virtues:

• Intelligence (to apprehend truths)
• Theoretical Wisdom

Virtues List from Buddhism

The Four Brahmaviharas in Buddhism, also known as the Four Immeasurables, are attributed to Nagarjuna in the 2nd century BCE.

The Four Brahmaviharas are:

• Benevolence (mettā)
• Compassion (karuṇā)
• Empathetic joy (muditā)
• Equanimity (upekkhā)

These four virtues represent four practices for one’s mental development.

List of Virtues from the Yoga Sutras

The dating for the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is obscure. You can find a range of dates from 500 BCE to 3rd century CE.

There are eight “limbs” to the Yoga Sutras. The first two are Yamas (moral discipline) and Niyama (observances). Both of these limbs represent a potential list of virtues.

The Five Yamas:

• Ahimsa (non-violence in thought, word, and deed)
• Satya (truthfulness)
• Asteya (no stealing)
• Brahmacharya (celibacy; “right use of energy”)
• Aparigraha (non-greed)

The Niyamas listed in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras :

• Saucha (cleanliness)
• Santosha (contentment)
• Tapas (discipline)
• Svadhyaya (study of the self)
• Isvara Pranidhama (contemplation of a higher power)

Cardinal Virtues in Judaism

The Book of Wisdom (mid-first century BCE) lists four virtues that arise from wisdom:

• Righteousness

Once again, we see the same cardinal virtues expressed in ancient Greece (Socrates).

The Seven Heavenly Virtues of Christianity and Catholicism

The “seven heavenly virtues” combine the four cardinal virtues from ancient Greece with three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity.

Taken together, the seven virtues:

Various Christian philosophers modified the list of the seven heavenly virtues. For example, in the fifth century, Prudentius listed the “seven capital virtues” as:

Then, in 590 AD, Pope Gregory I created a new list of capital virtues:

Finally, in his Summa Theologiae (1274), Saint Thomas Aquinas returned to the classic list of cardinal virtues:

Virtues in the Qur’an

I found it challenging to pin down a clear set of virtues from the Islamic faith. The Qur’an was written between 601-632 CE.

The virtues of Imam Ali are discussed in detail, however, there are around 450 virtues mentioned, which is not functional for our discussion here. 2 https://en.wikishia.net/view/Virtues_of_Imam_Ali_(a)

What is important is that the four cardinal virtues listed above are represented in Muslim philosophy as well. 3 https://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H018

Sikhism’s Virtues List

The Guru Granth Sahib (originally compiled between 1564 to 1606) highlights five essential virtues:

• Truthfulness (Sat)
• Compassion (Daya)
• Contentment (freedom from ambition) (Santokh)
• Humility / Benevolence (Nimrata)
• Love (for God) (Pyaar)

Bushido (The Samurai Code)

Translated as “the way of the warrior,” Bushido is a moral code of conduct for how the samurai was meant to live. Bushido was formerly developed between the 16th and 20th centuries.

Bushido’s Eight Virtues (according to Nitobe Inazo):

• Honesty / Sincerity
• Character / Self-Control

Benjamin Franklin’s Necessary Virtues

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin highlights what Frankin (1706 – 1790) believed were “necessary or desirable” virtues:

• Cleanliness
• Tranquility

Arguably, some of these virtues may be more closely related to Franklin’s personal values.

Character Strengths from Positive Psychology

Bringing it to the present day, psychologist Martin Seligman and his team scoured the classic literature to unearth universal virtues.

As Seligman explains in his book Authentic Happiness , they discovered that virtually all of the traditions endorse six primary virtues:

• Wisdom and Knowledge
• Love and Humanity
• Spirituality and Transcendence

From this list of six virtues, they develop a master list of 24 character strengths . 4 See also: https://positivepsychology.com/classification-character-strengths-virtues/

A Master List of Virtues

From all of the virtues listed above, I’ve synthesized them into a single list. There’s a lot of overlap so there’s subjective interpretation on my part.

Wherever possible, I’ve grouped related virtues into a single string. For example, temperance and moderation pretty much mean the same thing. The same goes for courage and fortitude.

Primary List of Virtues:

The virtues that reveal themselves the most often throughout the traditions are:

• Benevolence / Compassion / Kindness / Charity / Liberality / Love / Magnanimity
• Temperance / Moderation / Patience / Frugality
• Truthfulness / Honesty / Integrity / Sincerity
• Prudence / Wisdom / Knowledge / Intelligence
• Courage / Fortitude
• Justice / Righteousness / Honor
• Friendliness / Politeness / Courtesy
• Modesty / Humility
• Equanimity / Tranquility / Contentment

Secondary List of Virtues:

The following virtues are “secondary” in the sense that they occur less frequently in the above lists. (Most of them only occur once in the above lists.)

• Faith / Hope
• Cleanliness / Order
• Proper Ambition
• Magnificence

So, we’re left with 9 primary virtues and approximately 17 total virtues.

The Universal Nature of Virtues

Virtues play a central role in every Wisdom Tradition.

In this sense, virtues truly are universal in that they appear in both Western and Eastern systems consistently over the last three thousand years.

Philosophers like Socrates used virtues to articulate how we can all live the “good life.” In The Republic , Socrates tried to outline how to build a thriving society instead of eventually falling into ruins.

Cultivating virtues was an essential component of Socrates’ thesis.

Religions used virtues as a pathway to heaven and to realize God.

The Archetype of Virtue

An archetype is a set pattern of behavior that exists within the psyche.

Psychiatrist Carl Jung defined archetypes as “the living system of reactions and aptitudes that determine the individual’s life in invisible ways.” 5 C.G. Jung, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche , CW, Vol 8, 1970.

It’s not a coincidence that virtues have been the domain of philosophers and sages since antiquity.

The Sage archetype , or what Jung often referred to as the Wise Old Man, is the archetype responsible for moral refinement.

In the Hero’s Journey outlined by Joseph Campbell, the hero always meets a sage-like character who provides guidance and direction.

Without moral refinement and wise guidance, the hero never returns home. Instead, the hero gets consumed by chaos and the forces of darkness.

This Inner Guide guides each of us back home to ourselves. By adopting these virtues, we move toward the Center within us.

Buddhist Wheel of Life (Bhavachakra)

What Happens When We Live Without Virtues?

We each have both a lower soul and a higher soul.

The lower soul is driven by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain and discomfort.

In the Buddhist Wheel of Life, three animals are in the center of the wheel: a snake, a pig, and a rooster.

These three animals represent what’s called the “three poisons”:

• Greed, sensual pleasure, or attraction
• Anger, hate, or aversion
• Ignorance, confusion, or delusion.

These three poisons keep the Wheel of Samsara (suffering) turning.

Without cultivating virtues, we are more prone to struggle with impulse control, addictive tendencies, mental illness, and overall suffering.

These three poisons give way to the “seven deadly sins” of gluttony, lust, greed, despair, wrath, sloth, vanity, and pride.

Without actively cultivating virtues, we’re more likely to stay in the lower soul and be consumed by endless suffering. (And yes, the pursuit of pleasure is part of this suffering according to the Traditions.)

Said another way, the lower soul drives us toward vices ; the higher soul guides us toward virtues .

Virtue is Our Natural State

We are born with fundamental goodness. Before being corrupted by the external world, a young child’s mind is the basic state of virtue.

However, very quickly , the conditioning of the world begins. With this conditioning comes repeated trauma that triggers the shadow archetypes that begin to influence our attitudes, thoughts, and behavior.

Returning to virtues in adulthood is often challenging because we’ve accumulated a lifetime of vices, poor habits , and unsupportive conditioning.

The process of returning to our natural state requires self-observation and self-examination.

Without this careful self-examination, our attempts at virtuosity are always contrived . We might “act out” certain virtues when others are around, but they are forced and unnatural.

Self-honesty and truthfulness are needed to  get to know the shadow   first . This internal process helps us bring to consciousness all of the attitudes and behaviors that don’t serve us, yet are still within us.

Coming to see and accept all our prior conditioning is part of returning to our natural state of virtue—what Jung and many Eastern traditions refer to as the Self (Atman).

Virtues in the Internal Cultivation Arts

Finally, let’s highlight the spiritual nature of virtues and how virtues can serve us in our psychological and spiritual development.

Virtues are Highly Actionable

The topic of virtues can easily fall into a form of intellectualism. In a game of mental gymnastics, it’s easy to theorize about the “best virtues” without ever applying them to our behavior.

This form of intellectualism is a ruse; it’s a game of self-deception for the ego that doesn’t want to engage in virtuous behavior.

However, virtues are both practical and actionable . They are meant to be lived through us. They require us to make decisions and take conscious action each day .

How Virtues Relate to Our Internal Energy

To illustrate just how actionable virtues are, it is worth highlighting how they are represented in Chinese Qigong.

As mentioned earlier, the Tao Te Ching translates to “The Book of the Way and Its Virtues.”

Virtues don’t just play a philosophical, intellectual, or societal role in Taoism, they are used as an advanced technique.

As Qigong Master Dr. Yan Xin explains: 6 Yan Xin, Secrets and Benefits of Internal Qigong Cultivation , 1994, 66.

In the cultivation and application of qigong, virtue always plays a technical role that is uniquely central, pivotal, and sustaining. The source of the qi of qigong contains substances and energies based on highly unified matter and spirit. Virtue determines our ability to access this source.

According to Dr. Xin, virtues represent 70% of one’s Qigong energy cultivation.

Virtues as a Path for Self-Cultivation

Essentially, the more we express our “lower souls”—mainly seeking pleasure and society’s values as a primary focus—the more we leak our internal chi energy .

“Vices” don’t just cause us to lose control and suffer, they also damage our life force energy (thereby shortening our lives).

So the virtues listed above aren’t just designed to keep society together or control people’s behavior.

Yes, they were a means of keeping people and society from falling into chaos and destruction.

On a higher level, however, virtues like prudence, fortitude, justice, benevolence, truthfulness, and moderation are designed to guide us to our higher souls. (This is the primary focus of Jung’s individuation process too.)

The virtues are a means of restoring oneself to their Original Nature—to become more fully human.

Or, as the Taoists put it, “to become companions of Heaven and Earth.”

What Do You Think?

Share your thoughts, comments, and questions below.

About the Author

Scott Jeffrey is the founder of CEOsage, a self-leadership resource publishing in-depth guides read by millions of self-actualizing individuals. He writes about self-development, practical psychology, Eastern philosophy, and integrated practices. For 25 years, Scott was a business coach to high-performing entrepreneurs, CEOs, and best-selling authors. He's the author of four books including Creativity Revealed .

Learn more >

You may also want to check out Yamas and Niyamas in Yoga Sutras.

I will. And I’ll add it to the post when I can. Thank you.

This is a beautiful article and helped me see how far I’ve progressed in my 53 years on earth being a martial artist and yogi

Great to hear, Richard.

Have you read through any of the early Christian writers such as Justin the Philosopher? He seems to relate heavily to stoic and Greek philosophy.

I have not, Francisco.

I love this article!

You explained Values, virtues, and vices so well. I resonated deeply with the naming of Mental Gymnastics and how it consumes our life force as well as the vices doing the same!

I look forward to more of your writings!

BTW, my name is Ren, which means Benevolence. Like the beginning of your article shares.

Thank you for the feedback, Ren.

Very cool name!

Great article Scott – It helped me separate personal values from VIRTUES interesting how similar they are across the world – great work – much appreciated.

Sure thing, Karl-Otto. And yes, the universal nature of the virtues is worth noting.

Brilliant essay – something every person should fully consider when conversing with another. Why? Because it’s at the core of our differences and often conflicts with one another. Which is so important to take into consideration when dealing with others.

Yes, Sonya. Although most often these types of conflicts relate to our differing values. In contrast, the virtues are universal, so they are less likely to create conflicts between two people.

Hello the teacher

Please teacher I must thanking you for all this exhausting list of values and virtues.

I must asking though which virtue is the best virtue???

If I was on a mountain hiding from the WEF (because we all know we not preventing hating from stupid WEF when world domination) which virtue is the best to calculate and culinary?

Also because I always like Goku from Dragon Ball Z. Can I see super sayain path as likened to seeking virtue (my favourite is super sayain level 4)

Always thanking you teacher for your providings of wisdom insightfulness

much love from your favourite student

Bahsalialiyangi

Hi Bahsalialiyangi,

As to which virtue is the “best virtue,” the idea behind the cardinal virtues is that they are distilled down to their essential form. That is, there’s no single “best virtue” beyond these four according to the ancient traditions.

Prudence, fortitude, justice, and temperance are the hinges. Each of these virtues interacts with and supports the others. Remove any one of the four and we fall out of balance. For example, justice without temperance (moderation) can lead to extremes like puritanism.

So all four of these virtues can be considered the “best virtues.”

That said, in the Taoist source I cited above, truthfulness is considered the hinge for the other four virtues on their list.

Hi Scott, This would have taken a lot of research and correlation. I didn’t know the difference between values and virtues, so thanks for the clarification. I’d like to know more about virtues and Qigong energy cultivation. And also why there is so little written in the Islamic religion about virtues. We generally know so little about the Muslims, and it mostly is negative. Why is that? Especially in contrast to all the other ancient religions and philosophies. Cheers, Patsy

To clarify, I didn’t claim that so little was written in the Islamic religion about virtues. I found numerous references to them. However, I couldn’t find any well-known Muslim philosopher who distilled the virtues down to their essence — instead of lists of 36 or 450 virtues (which are arguably values). It may exist. Perhaps someone with more knowledge in this area with comment here at some point. As to your question, I don’t have a clear answer to that.

Shams of Tabriz a persian poet and mentor to Rumi, had 40 rules which you might find interesting.

Thank you, Susan. But 40 is still far too many to be considered “cardinal.”

A brilliant article! I wonder if how differently these virtues understood and interpreted in different cultures . I lived in three different countries in three different continents and speak the languages, I learned words don’t always exactly the same meaning. Do you think there is a universal understanding of virtues when we practice them?

You raise an interesting question. I do think there’s a universal understanding of virtues among practitioners regardless of the language/culture because of how they are reflected in our behaviors. These behavioral patterns are archetypal and therefore universal across time and culture.

I love your work, Your writing puts me on the right Road

Thanks for the comment, Lee. That’s great to hear.

Would it be reasonably accurate to say that without humility it is not possible to practice virtue whereas it is possible to express values without necessarily holding humility…or even promote internal pride without realizing it?

I would say so, Ava. I think that’s why values (“discovering your values”) are more popular than virtues overall. Values are more accessible to the average person — especially in today’s culture. That is, values don’t require psychological development to benefit from them. This is not the case with virtues.

Thank you, Scott. In the light of this article, thought it might be useful to also include that “virtues” appear integral to the spiritual development of an individual too. Present in some form or the other in all the religions, streams of spirituality, and philosophies, that most people connect to when they consider themselves in relation to a Higher Power/Self…it seems to me that Humility is a central component in the psycho-spiritual development of an individual. Whereas, as you mention it isn’t the case with values. Thank you for this insightful article!

Perhaps I didn’t make that clear enough in the bottom portion of the article, but I was driving at the importance of virtues in spiritual development (i.e. self-cultivation).

Tu última publicación fue genial. ¡Gracias por compartir tu conocimiento de manera tan clara y efectiva!

Omg! I understand now… thank you.

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​Independence Day 2024: 8 thought-provoking essay ideas for students

Aug 12, 2024

8 Insightful Essay Ideas for Students

Independence Day commemorates our country’s journey to freedom and the enduring values that define it. For students, writing essays on this topic offers a unique opportunity to delve into the historical, cultural, and personal significance of this monumental day.

Image Source: Canva

​Modern-day relevance of Independence Day: Why it still matters in today's world

Independence Day comes as a powerful reminder of past victories and is also a living testament to the values etched in the history of our nation. This essay could explore how the ideals of freedom remain relevant in addressing the challenges of the modern world.

How diverse traditions enhance national unity

Picturing the multicultural fabric of the nation, this essay topic can highlight how diverse cultural traditions weave and strengthen the national bond. You can delve deeper by capturing the subtleties of each culture and its contribution to India’s cultural richness.

How Independence Day principles have influenced national policies and social change?

The principles of Independence Day such as freedom, equality, and justice have had a lasting impact on the development of national policies and social reforms. The essay can demonstrate how these ideals have translated into action over the years.

Post-Independence: The journey of India's educational system

Analyze how India’s education system has evolved since independence. This could include changes in curriculum, the introduction of new institutions, and the challenges and achievements in making education accessible to all.

Voices of the youth: What independence means today

Conduct interviews with students across India to understand what independence means to the younger generation. Explore their thoughts on freedom, national identity, and the challenges India faces in maintaining its independence in a globalized world.

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Traditions through time: evolution of independence day celebrations from past to present.

Chronicling the history of traditions, this essay can trace the changes in them over the years. You can also underscore how the traditional ceremonies have transformed into new forms, and what it reflects about the shifting priorities and values of our country.

Role of education in preserving Independence Day

Education is key to ensuring that the significance of Independence Day is passed down to future generations. The topic can explore the importance of integrating Independence Day into the curriculum and the role of schools, and teachers in fostering patriotic values in students.

Impact of media on Independence Day

The essay can talk about the role of media in instilling national pride and fostering a national bond in the nation. You can depict the efforts of media in reinforcing the narratives of Independence and its significant role in shaping the perceptions of the viewers.

Thanks For Reading!

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Where Tim Walz Stands on the Issues

As governor of Minnesota, he has enacted policies to secure abortion protections, provide free meals for schoolchildren, allow recreational marijuana and set renewable energy goals.

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By Maggie Astor

• Aug. 6, 2024

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the newly announced running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris, has worked with his state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature to enact an ambitious agenda of liberal policies: free college tuition for low-income students, free meals for schoolchildren, legal recreational marijuana and protections for transgender people.

“You don’t win elections to bank political capital,” Mr. Walz wrote last year about his approach to governing. “You win elections to burn political capital and improve lives.”

Republicans have slammed these policies as big-government liberalism and accused Mr. Walz of taking a hard left turn since he represented a politically divided district in Congress years ago.

Here is an overview of where Mr. Walz stands on some key issues.

Mr. Walz signed a bill last year that guaranteed Minnesotans a “fundamental right to make autonomous decisions” about reproductive health care on issues such as abortion, contraception and fertility treatments.

Abortion was already protected by a Minnesota Supreme Court decision, but the new law guarded against a future court reversing that precedent as the U.S. Supreme Court did with Roe v. Wade, and Mr. Walz said this year that he was also open to an amendment to the state’s Constitution that would codify abortion rights.

Another bill he signed legally shields patients, and their medical providers, if they receive an abortion in Minnesota after traveling from a state where abortion is banned.

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