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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/