Virtues

A truly happy life will include not only acts of choosing well, but also good habits, habits we - and others - can rely on day-by-day. The philosophical term for good habits is 'virtues'. Christian thinkers have concentrated on the four 'cardinal' virtues (wisdom, justice, courage and temperance) and the three 'theological virtues' (faith, hope, love), but there are many other related virtues (hospitality, generosity, loyalty, piety etc.).

To have a virtue is to be inclined to act in a certain way and to get pleasure from doing so (compare those who return stolen goods grudgingly with those who do so from a love of justice). Virtuous people feel good about acting well: their emotional life is caught up in their striving to do good. Non-virtuous people can still do good, but their goodness is less rewarding to themselves, and less reliable for others. Cultivating virtues also gives us extra resources to call upon when in serious difficulties and dilemmas.

However, like everything else, virtue is best if learned early. Where instead young people learn the corresponding 'vices' (injustice, shallowness, cowardice, hatred, despair etc.) there are grave problems of re-education, and great difficulties in making morality seem attractive.

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