Final Essay Rough Draft: The Question of Virtue The question of virtue is addressed differently in the ancient Greece and Rome, later classical Greece and Rome, and in Christianity. In the Ancient Western virtue is the honor code, and in the later classical Greece and Rome world virtue was seen more as an internal orientation. Then, later on, in Christianity, virtue was something received by God’s grace in which was gifted when one seeks the right relationship with God and believing in Jesus Christ.
In the Ancient Western world virtue was the honor code. The honor code is what every man that wanted to be considered a hero, followed by displaying arete in order to gain time and to have kleos. If a man did not perform arete and have kleos, …show more content…
Socrates, Aristotle, and Epicurism all saw virtue as an internal nature, that was divine, not as physical abilities. In Socrates’ dialogue with Meno, he came to the conclusion that virtue was not taught nor learned, but rather given to man by God as a nature within virtuous men. As Socrates put it, “ … Virtue comes to the virtuous by the gift of God.”(pg. 96, Five Dialogues). Aristotle found virtue to be the mean between two extremes. Aristotle stated, “ … This being determined by a rational principle, and by that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine. Now it is a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect…”( Nicomachean Ethics, sec. 6). Simply put, prudence, which is the practical wisdom, is the rational principle within man’s nature to determine the mean of an excess and defect. E.g., The mean of cowardice and rashness is courage, the excess being rashness and the defect cowardice which both are the extremes of courage. Now for the Epicureans, virtue was living modestly to accomplish one’s own pleasure and happiness. In Martin’s, Ancient Greece, Epicurus dictates that true pleasure is an “ absence of disturbance”, from worldly pursuits and passions.In conclusion,all of these three viewpoints tie in to the fact that virtue was viewed as internal orientation of one’s own
In the Ancient Western world virtue was the honor code. The honor code is what every man that wanted to be considered a hero, followed by displaying arete in order to gain time and to have kleos. If a man did not perform arete and have kleos, …show more content…
Socrates, Aristotle, and Epicurism all saw virtue as an internal nature, that was divine, not as physical abilities. In Socrates’ dialogue with Meno, he came to the conclusion that virtue was not taught nor learned, but rather given to man by God as a nature within virtuous men. As Socrates put it, “ … Virtue comes to the virtuous by the gift of God.”(pg. 96, Five Dialogues). Aristotle found virtue to be the mean between two extremes. Aristotle stated, “ … This being determined by a rational principle, and by that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine. Now it is a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect…”( Nicomachean Ethics, sec. 6). Simply put, prudence, which is the practical wisdom, is the rational principle within man’s nature to determine the mean of an excess and defect. E.g., The mean of cowardice and rashness is courage, the excess being rashness and the defect cowardice which both are the extremes of courage. Now for the Epicureans, virtue was living modestly to accomplish one’s own pleasure and happiness. In Martin’s, Ancient Greece, Epicurus dictates that true pleasure is an “ absence of disturbance”, from worldly pursuits and passions.In conclusion,all of these three viewpoints tie in to the fact that virtue was viewed as internal orientation of one’s own