Virtue
The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is valued as an end purpose of life or a foundational principle of being.
In human practical ethics, a virtue is a disposition to choose actions that succeed in showing high moral standards: doing what is said to be right and avoiding what is wrong in a given field of endeavour, even when doing so may be unnecessary from a utilitarian perspective.
[3] The four classic cardinal virtues are:[4] This enumeration is traced to Greek philosophy and was listed by Plato who also added piety (ὁσιότης, hosiotēs) and replaced prudence with wisdom.
As Aristotle says in the Nicomachean Ethics: "at the right times, and on the right occasions, and towards the right persons, and with the right object, and in the right fashion, is the mean course and the best course, and these are characteristics of virtue.
[17] In Christianity, the three theological virtues are faith, hope, and love, a list which comes from 1 Corinthians 13:13 (νυνὶ δὲ μένει πίστις pistis (faith), ἐλπίς elpis (hope), ἀγάπη agape (love), τὰ τρία ταῦτα· μείζων δὲ τούτων ἡ ἀγάπη).
Among the virtues were fides (faith), pudicitia (chastity), paciencia (endurance), mens humilis (humility), spes (hope), sobrietas (sobriety), ratio (reason), operatio (devotion), pax (peace), concordia (harmony), and sapientia (wisdom).
Believers are to "enjoin that which is virtuous and forbid that which is vicious" (al-amr bi-l-maʿrūf wa-n-nahy ʿani-l-munkar) in all spheres of life (Quran 3:110).
[19] In the Hadith (Islamic traditions), it is reported by An-Nawwas bin Sam'an: "The Prophet Muhammad said, 'Virtue is good manner, and sin is that which creates doubt and you do not like people to know it.
Asked for a summary of the Jewish religion in the most concise terms, Hillel replied (reputedly while standing on one leg): "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.
[citation needed] In early periods of Confucianism, moral manifestations of "virtue" include ren ("humanity"), xiao ("filial piety"), and li ("proper behavior, performance of rituals").
[26] The Daoist concept of De, compared to Confucianism, is more subtle, pertaining to the "virtue" or ability that an individual realizes by following the Dao ("the Way").
One important normative value in much of Chinese thinking is that one's social status should result from the amount of virtue that one demonstrates, rather than from one's birth.
[29] The essence, need and value of virtue is explained in Hindu philosophy as something that cannot be imposed, but something that is realized and voluntarily lived up to by each individual.
; neither the Gods, Gandharvas, nor ancestors can convince us—this is right, this is wrong; virtue is an elusive concept, it demands careful and sustained reflection by every man and woman before it can become part of one's life.
For example, Manusamhita initially listed ten virtues necessary for a human being to live a dharmic life: Dhriti (courage), kshama (patience and forgiveness), dama (temperance), asteya (Non-covetousness/Non-stealing), saucha (inner purity), indriyani-graha (control of senses), dhi (reflective prudence), vidya (wisdom), satyam (truthfulness), and akrodha (freedom from anger).
The shorter list of virtues became: Ahimsa (Non-violence), dama (self restraint), asteya (Non-covetousness/Non-stealing), saucha (inner purity), and satyam (truthfulness).
For example, it explains that a virtue such as Ahimsa must be re-examined when one is faced with war or violence from the aggressiveness, immaturity, or ignorance of others.
All Jains are supposed to take up the five vows of ahimsa (non violence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non stealing), aparigraha (non attachment), and brahmacharya (celibacy) before becoming a monk.
[38]The Five Virtues of Sikhism are Sat (truth), Daya (compassion), Santokh (contentment), Nimrata (humility), and Pyaar (love).
Men should seek the sovereign good that Descartes, following Zeno, identifies with virtue, as this produces a solid[clarification needed] blessedness or pleasure.
[39] Immanuel Kant, in his Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime, says true virtue is different from what commonly is believed about it.
According to Kant, among all people with diverse temperaments, a person with a melancholic frame of mind is the most virtuous, whose thoughts, words, and deeds are principled.
According to Nietzsche these higher types are solitary, pursue a "unifying project", revere themselves and are healthy and life-affirming.
[41] Because mixing with the herd makes one base, the higher type "strives instinctively for a citadel and a secrecy where he is saved from the crowd, the many, the great majority…".
[42] The "Higher type" also "instinctively seeks heavy responsibilities"[40]: 944 in the form of an "organizing idea" for their life, which drives them to artistic and creative work and gives them psychological health and strength.
[41] The fact that the higher types are "healthy" for Nietzsche does not refer to physical health as much as a psychological resilience and fortitude.
Because solitude is a virtue for us, since it is a sublime inclination and impulse to cleanliness which shows that contact between people ("society") inevitably makes things unclean.
Immanuel Kant, in his Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime, predicts and replies to Marc Johnson's view of emotions as virtues.
To be goodhearted, benevolent, and sympathetic is not true virtue, for one acts merely episodically, motivated by appeasing those naturally limited feelings, such as in the presence, for example, of a needy person in the street: in such a case, we do not act for a universal motive but simply as a response to end a particular, individual, personal distress arisen in us by our own sentiments.
[45] After three years of study, 24 traits (classified into six broad areas of virtue) were identified, having "a surprising amount of similarity across cultures and strongly indicat[ing] a historical and cross-cultural convergence.
