How to be virtuous?
Changelog:
- [2025-05-08 Thu] Add virtue as the middle example (thanks JZ for pointing this improvement idea).
When you start studying the Greek classical philosophers it may become evident that a side-effect of their search for the Objective Truth is to answer the most important questions of a human life. For example, what is knowledge, what is the goal of life, what is a good life, what are virtues, etc.
And it's impressive to realize that they were able to reach rational and based answers for most of those questions.
Well, for this article I'm going to present Aristotle's take on how to be virtuous.
But first, we need to know how one learns to be virtuous. And the answer is by studying what virtuous people did in the past. While doing this, you'll notice that virtue lies in the middle of two vices, and that it depends on the actual circumstances. This idea is related to Plato's aristocratic education.
For example, consider the Courage.
At reference [1], Aristotle states that the courage is the observance of the mean in respect of fear and confidence, since in the extreme of fear we have cowardice, and in the opposite extreme, for the confidence part, we have madness, rashness, imprudence and irresponsibility.
The courageous man then is he that endures or fears the right things and for the right purpose and in the right manner and at the right time, and who shows confidence in a similar way. - [1]
Furthermore, it's not sufficient to just know what virtuous people did in the past, one needs to put it into practice consciously, with the right and aligned spirit.
Aristotle's take is that being virtuous is similar to being strong. To be strong you need to exercise your muscles (conscious practice), but just exercising is not sufficient, you need to feed your body with the right nutrients (study what virtuous people did in the past), and have the necessary rest (reflection, or maybe just rest to restore your energy in this context too).
Finally, as noted before, virtue lies in the middle of two radical vices. But how can we know where this middle is?
Well, there are some directives you can consider before jumping into action:
- Avoid the extremes, especially the most serious errors. In some scenarios, one of the extremes is more serious than the other. But be aware that extremes avoidance is the error itself for some circumstances (example: Sobre o relativismo moral).
- Take into account the errors you're especially more prone to (different people are more inclined to different kind of errors). Then, we must drag ourselves away, in the opposite direction, for by steering wide of our besetting error we shall make a middle course.
- Be in guard against what is purely pleasant!
- If it's possible, simulate by considering the radical scenarios first, then it may be more clear what the middle course looks like.
Related books
These books were my main reference while writing this post, and if you'd like to get a deeper understanding, I'd suggest reading it in the following order.