The Four Virtues

Dantes Seven Deadly Vices

FourVirtues — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:47:42 +0000

Ranked in order of severity as per Dante’s Divine Comedy (in the Purgatorio), the seven deadly vices are:

Pride (vanity) - an excessive love of self or holding self out of proper position toward God or fellows. Dante’s definition was “love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one’s neighbor”. In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, pride is referred to as superbia.
Avarice (Covetousness or Greed) - a desire to possess more than one has need or use for or, according to Dante, “excessive love of money and power.” In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, avarice is referred to as avaritia.
Lust - excessive sexual desire. Dante’s criterion was “lust detracts from true love.”. In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, lust is referred to as luxuria.
Wrath (anger) - feelings of hatred, revenge or even denial, as well as punitive desires outside of justice. Dante’s description was “love of justice perverted to revenge and spite.” In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, wrath is referred to as ira.
Gluttony - overindulgence in food, drink or intoxicants, or misplaced desire of food as a pleasure for its sensuality “excessive love of pleasure” was Dante’s rendering. In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, gluttony is referred to as gula.
Envy - resentment of others for their possessions. Dante explained “Love of one’s own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of their.” In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, envy is referred to as invidia.
Sloth (also accidie, acedia) - laziness; idleness and wastefulness of time allotted. Laziness is condemned because others have to work harder and useful work can not get done.

Several of these vices interlink, and various attempts at causal hierarchy have been made. For example, pride (love of self out of proportion) is implied in gluttony (the over-consumption or waste of food), as well as sloth, envy, and most of the others. Each sin is a particular way of failing to love God with all one’s resources and to love fellows as much as self. The Scholastic theologians developed schema of attribute and substance of will to explain these sins.

Western Ideas of Virtue

FourVirtues — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:24:54 +0000

In Christianity, the theological virtues are:

Faith
Hope
Charity

From 1 Corinthians 13:13. St. Paul defined these three chief virtues. Christian Church authorities called them the “Three Theological Virtues” because they believed these virtues were not natural to man in his fallen state, but were conferred at Baptism.

The Four Cardinal Virtues:

Fortitude (Courage)
Temperance (Temperance)
Prudence (Wisdom)
Justice (Justice)

From Wisdom 8:7
The Seven Heavenly Virtues:

Faith
Hope
Charity
Courage
Justice
Temperance
Wisdom

The Heavenly Virtues combine the four Cardinal Virtues and the three Theological Virtues.

The Seven Contrary Virtues:

Humility
Kindness
Abstinence
Chastity
Patience
Liberality
Diligence

The Contrary Virtues were derived from the Psychomachia (”Battle for the oul”), an epic poem written by Prudentius (c. 410).

Practicing these virtues is alleged to protect one against temptation toward the Seven Deadly Sins: humility against pride, kindness against envy, abstinence against gluttony, chastity against lust, patience against anger, liberality against greed, and diligence against sloth.

Eastern Ideas of Virtue

FourVirtues — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:12:13 +0000

Virtue is also an important concept in Chinese philosophies such as Confucianism and Taoism. Chinese virtues include:

Humanity
Xiao - usually translated as filial piety
Zhong - meaning loyalty.

One important normative value in much of Chinese thinking is that one’s social status should be the result of the amount of virtue that one could demonstrate rather than by one’s birth. In the Analects, Confucius stated that perfect virtue consists of the global practice of five things:

Gravity
Generosity of soul
Sincerity
Earnestness
Kindness

The four classic Islam “cardinal” virtues are:

Shiddiq : prudence/wisdom/truthful
Tabligh : communicative
Amanah : trustworthy
Fathanah : intelligent or smart

Virtues Overview

FourVirtues — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:02:30 +0000

Virtue is the habitual, well-established, readiness or disposition of man’s powers directing them to some goodness of act. As applied to humans, a virtue is a good character trait. The Latin word virtus literally means “manliness,” from vir, “man” in the masculine sense; and referred originally to masculine, warlike virtues such as courage. In one of the many ironies of etymology, in English the word virtue is often used to refer to a woman’s chastity.

Virtue is “habitual excellence”. It is something practiced at all times. The virtue of perseverance is needed for all and any virtue since it is a habit of character and must be used continuously in order

for any person to maintain oneself in virtue.

Classically, some philosophers, most notably Aristotle, said that in order to pursue any of these virtues perfectly, one would have to master them all. For example, in order to be just, one must be wise. The thesis of the unity of the virtues is controversial. One might argue that humans can be courageous without being wise, or good tempered without being just.

However, as Aristotle noted, the virtues can have several opposites. Virtues can be considered the mean between two extremes. For instance, both cowardice and rashness are opposites of courage; contrary to prudence are both over-caution and insufficient caution. A more “modern” virtue, tolerance, can be considered the mean between the two extremes of narrow-mindedness on the one hand and soft-headedness on the other. Vices can therefore be identified as the

opposites of virtues, but with the caveat that each virtue could have many different opposites, all distinct from each other.

List of Eastern and Western Virtues