can virtue be taught

8/3/2019 Can Virtue Be Taught

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Ryan Chapman

Ancient Philosophy

Fall 2010 Paper

Virtue: What it is and the Many Ways it is Taught

In the Meno, virtue obtained by knowledge is debated by Socrates and Meno. If

virtue is knowledge then it must be taught. If taught, then there must be a teacher. My

thesis is that there are many teachers of virtue and that teaching can be through

means of instruction, persuasion, individual observation, cultural tradition or if need be,

by force. With that being said, all men can be taught virtue.

Two questions that will be discussed pertaining to virtue and if it can be taught

are: First, is virtue teachable to at least one man? Second, if virtue can be taught to at

least one man, can it be taught to any man, and how? Also, what is virtue and what

does it mean to teach or to be taught will be discussed.

Virtue is the feature of man which determines what is right from wrong. Virtue is

moral excellence, goodness, righteousness. It is the conformity of ones life and

conduct to moral and ethical principles. Determining right from wrong initially requires

having the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, and also entails rational

judgment. But knowing is not enough, for ultimately how a man acts on what he knows

is most significant. A man with virtue must act in a virtuous way. Therefore, virtue is


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really three things: the understanding of right and wrong, the ability to discern right from

wrong, and the final right action the man takes.

Aristotle, in the Nicomachean Ethics, agreed with the notion that a man with

virtue must act in a virtuous way. His chief good is happiness. His candidates (the

ultimate end for someone) for the obtaining of happiness includes things such as

pleasure, honor, wealth and health. The candidate with the most credibility for

happiness isnt just virtue but to have a life where a person lives virtuous activity.

Aristotle described how people become virtuous by performing virtuous actions, which

they might not have chosen themselves when young. They must develop proper habits

during childhood and this usually requires help from teachers, parents, and law-makers.

A good community is normally required for the development of good people. The

development of good people starts by teaching virtue at a young age.

Socrates stated in the Menothat virtues are common to all people, that

temperance (exercising self control) and justice (refraining from harming other people)

are virtues even in children and old men (Meno 73b). Socrates, in Gorgias, gave his

opinion in a conversation with Polus that it takes true goodness to make a man or a

woman happy, and an immoral, wicked person is unhappy. (Gorgias 470b)

The Stoics view of virtue is that it is sufficient for happiness. Virtue is living in

agreement with nature. The Stoics equate virtue with wisdom and both with a kind of

determined strength within the commanding faculty of the soul.


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According to the doctrine of the Peripatetics (the school that Aristotle founded),

the happy life is one in which one exercises one's moral and theoretical virtues. (Nic.

Eth. IV.1)

By these examples of philosophical thought, there is a connecting link between

happiness and knowing what virtue is, and more specifically doing virtuous activity.

Even if there is conflicting views on the importance of other means that could bring

happiness, it is virtue that is of first rate importance in obtaining happiness. Since

mankind desires happiness, there has to be some way to obtain it. Virtue is the way to

obtain it. In many forms virtue can be taught and learned and then followed, whereby

happiness can be achieved.

So by teaching virtue, there now must be clarification of what it means to be

taught. Also included for clarification is who is being taught. Teaching is a compound

subject, and learning does not always necessitate a teacher. Learning comes in many

forms, and learning does not require a teacher in the strict sense. A person can learn

from studying and following virtuous people. These virtuous people may be naive that

they are being studied. The person is learning virtue, and his teachers are the virtuous

people, even though teachers, as one might commonly think of a teacher, are not

physically present.

Experience is subsequently a second form. Numerous people learn virtue

through experience, both personal and vicarious. If there is a teacher in this example,

it would be a blend of life experiences and the reflective nature of the learner. Further


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on the form of learning we call experience, we realize that a man can learn, even if he

cannot explain how he learned, or explain exactly what he knows. For example, say you

have been through a particular struggle, you can recognize that a friend is going

through the same struggle. You can detect it, but you cannot explain how you

recognized it. Therefore, a man can be taught through personal experience, by

studying examples, or from a teacher who is physically with him. In all these cases,

teaching is being done.

Who is being taught must be discussed more in detail. There are three

categories of teach-learn relationships: Some people teach themselves virtue, some

people do not want to learn virtue, and some want to learn virtue but cannot teach it to

themselves. Socrates explored into the third category - those who want to learn virtue

but cannot teach themselves. However, the second category is also important (those

who do not want to learn virtue.) Those in the first category can teach themselves and

there isnt an issue if virtue can be taught because they seek it on an individual basis.

Therefore, the two subjects of teaching would be to determine whether one can teach to

those who want to learn virtue, and then see if one can teach virtue to those who do not

want to learn virtue.

Reflect on the man who desires to learn virtue as Socrates has done. The

principal goal is to educate him to act virtuously. Nobody can make a man act; each

has their own ability to choose. One can, however, persuade the man to act. One can

also teach him how to act. Since the man in this category desires to learn virtue, he

needs no persuasion to act. Therefore by skipping the persuasion part, the one who is


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teaching proceeds to teach him how to act.

Religiously, in the Bible, virtue and the whole process of learning it and doing

virtuous activity is discussed by Paul:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things arehonest, whatsoever things arejust,

whatsoever things arepure, whatsoever things arelovely, whatsoever things areof good report; if there

beany virtue, and if there beany praise, think on these thingsThose things, which ye have both

learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

-Phillippians 4:8-9 (emphasis added)

Knowing how to act entails knowledge of standards of right and wrong. All acts

are to be judged right or wrong by these standards. Judging could be off of a unifying

theory of virtue (from which all acts could be correctly judged.) A unifying theory of

virtue would be ideal, for we could base everything from it. However, from what has

been observed throughout time, there hasnt been a concise verdict of a universal

theory of virtue, and this theory cannot be taught. What has been determined through

examination is that there are standards for various subsets of virtue. The standard is a

broad classification of a particular subset of virtue. Most situations dealing with a

persons actions are compatible with one of the standards. These standards are

frequently useful, yet the standards have restrictions. When the restrictions are reached,

men must judge the best they can. The knowledge of standards and their restrictions

can be taught.

Judgment skills can be taught and learned as well. Judgment skills are the

mental insights which let a man settle on what is right and wrong in new situations. The

teacher can get a man to practice their judgment skills. As with Plato in his dialogues

between Socrates and a pupil, the pupil learns judgment skills.
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As previously mentioned, virtue must end in the action. There are no absolutes in

bringing about a good act, because situations vary. A man can learn techniques in what

he judges as a good act. With an understanding of techniques, the man has built for

himself a foundation from which he can act virtuously in any particular situation. Thus,

knowledge, judgment skills, and techniques, can be taught to the man who desires to

learn.

Now consider the second group of subjects (whether if one can teach virtue to

those who do not want to learn virtue). Although one cannot make a man act, one can

persuade him to act. It is evident that we know that men can be persuaded. One can

persuade a man to seek virtue. One could do it by using reason, or the other method is

by using force.

First the persuader reasons that virtue is good in itself. If he does not respond

virtuously by that means, then the persuader could reason that virtue is good as a

means to other things. Reason is tried so that the man will be rewarded for virtuous

acts. If the man isnt persuaded and still acts un-virtuously, the virtue is taught to him

using favorable force. Seeing as the man does not change his behavior on his own, he

must be forced to concentrate on his behavior and contend with it. He then restricts his

alternatives of facing his behavior so that he must change his behavior. A prime

example of this is modern day correctional facilities of incarcerated inmates. They have

done an un-virtuous act, and are in the process of changing their behavior. If they dont,

and if they continue in un-virtuous rebellion, they maintain their stay as prisoners.


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With restricted options before him, the man is forced to act in restricted ways.

The man is forced to act virtuously. Forced practice becomes pattern. The man starts to

act virtuously on his own. Eventually, the man appreciates the benefits of acting

virtuously. Combine this with his habits from forced behavior, and the man is motivated

to seek virtue on his own. The process of teaching virtue for someone like this might

take more time and is sometimes unconventional, yet teaching still occurs.

An argument against my claim that virtue can be taught could be that if the soul

is immortal, and if one believes in recollection of knowledge, then virtue could given to

mankind a time previous, and this is an innate quality. I concur that there is a possibility

that virtue is innate, but in order to recollect something, one needs to rehear it or re-

experience it and this mode is through a process of teaching, whether directly or

indirectly in this life experience.

In conclusion, virtue is the knowledge of right from wrong, the ability to discern

right from wrong, and the acts toward virtuous living. Virtue can be taught to anyone

who desires to learn virtue.

Men who teach themselves virtue learn through studying others, through

experience, and through personal reflection. Men who want to learn but need a teacher

learn through first learning the knowledge of the moral standards in common situations,

then learning the techniques to help him act virtuously in a practical way. If a man does

not desire to learn virtue, he can be persuaded by reason or by force. When the man is

persuaded by reason, then he changes his behavior on his own desire. When he is

persuaded by force, he changes his behavior by need.


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One can persuade men to seek virtue. One can teach them knowledge of right

and wrong. One can teach them techniques to act virtuously. Therefore, virtue can be

taught, and it can be taught to any man.


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Bibliography

Voices of Ancient Philosophy: An Introductory Reader(Oxford, 2000).

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edward N. Zalta. http://plato.stanford.edu/

http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/philip/4?lang=eng

Meno-

Dominic Scott, Plato's Meno, Cambridge University Press, 2006

Nicomachean Ethics-

Broadie, Sarah; Rowe, Christopher (2002). Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics: Translation, Introduction, and

Commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Gorgias-

Plato. Gorgias. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 1994.
http://plato.stanford.edu/http://plato.stanford.edu/

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