Handbook of Ethical Theory | Page 8

the world. The things then which are useful to these cities are
alone useful to me." [Footnote: Thoughts, Book VI, 44; translated by
GEORGE LONG.]
9. PLATO; ARISTOTLE; THE CHURCH.--No more famous
classification of the virtues--those qualities of character which it is

desirable for a man to have, and which determine his doing what it is
desirable that he should do--has ever been drawn up than that offered
us by Plato: Wisdom, Courage, Temperance and Justice. [Footnote: For
PLATO's account of the virtues see the Republic, Book IV, and the
Laws, Book I.] It is interesting to lay beside it the longer list drawn up
by Aristotle, and to compare both with that which commended itself to
the mind of the mediaeval churchman.
With Aristotle, the virtues are made to include: [Footnote: _Ethics_; I
refer the reader to the admirable exposition and criticism by
SIDGWICK, History of Ethics, London, 1896, chapter ii, Sec 10-12;
compare ZELLER, Aristotle and the Earlier Peripatetics, English
translation London, 1897, Volume II, chapter xii.]
Wisdom High-mindedness Justice Ambition Courage Gentleness
Temperance Friendliness Liberality Truthfulness Magnificence
Decorous Wit
and it is suggested that, although scarcely a virtue, a sense of shame is
becoming in youth.
We find the Christian teachers especially recommending: [Footnote:
See SIDGWICK'S sympathetic account of the Churchman's view of the
virtues, loc. cit., chapter iii.]
Obedience Patience Benevolence Purity Humility Alienation from the
"World" Alienation from the "Flesh"
and their lists of the "deadly sins" they select from the following:
Pride Arrogance Anger Gluttony Unchastity Envy Vain-Glory
Gloominess Languid Indifference.
Could there be a more striking contrast than that between the mediaeval
code and those of the great Greek thinkers? Plato recommended as
virtues certain general characteristics of character much admired by the
Greek of his day. Aristotle accepted them and added to them. He has
painted much more in detail the gifts and graces of a well-born and

well-situated Greek gentleman as he conceived him. The personage
would cut a sorry figure in the role of a mediaeval saint; the mediaeval
saint would wear a tarnished halo if endowed with the Aristotelian
virtues.
The one ideal, the Greek, breathes an air of self-assertion; the other one
of self-abnegation. Benevolence, Purity, Humility and Unworldliness
are not to be found in the former; Justice, Courage and Veracity appear
to be missing in the latter. Wisdom, insight, has given place to the
Obedience appropriate to a man clearly conscious of a Law, not
man-made, to which man feels himself to be subject.
Indeed, the discrepancy between the ideals is such that Aristotle's
virtuously high-minded man would have been conceived by the
mediaeval churchman to be living in deadly sin, as the very
embodiment of pride and arrogance. We find him portrayed as neither
seeking nor avoiding danger, for there are few things about which he
cares; as ashamed to accept favors, since that implies inferiority; as
sluggish and indifferent except when stimulated by some great honor to
be gained or some great work to be performed; as frank, for this is
characteristic of the man who despises others; as admiring little, for
nothing is great to him. His pride prevents him from harboring
resentment, from seeking praise, and from praising others. This
Nietzschean hero would attract attention upon any stage: "The step of
the high-minded man is slow, his voice deep, and his language stately,
for he who feels anxiety about few things is not apt to be in a hurry;
and he who thinks highly of nothing is not vehement." [Footnote:
Ethics, Book IV, chapter in, 19, translation by R. W. BROWNE,
London, 1865.]
To be sure, virtues not on a given list may be found in, or read into,
some of the writings of the man who presents it. It would be absurd to
maintain that the mediaeval churchman had no regard for justice,
courage and veracity, as he would define them, or that Plato and
Aristotle were wholly deaf to the claims of benevolence. Nevertheless,
the variations in the emphasis laid on this virtue or on that, or in the
conception of what constitutes this virtue or that, may yield ideals of

character and of conduct which bear but a slight family resemblance.
Imagine St. Francis of Assisi lowering his voice, slowing his step, and
cultivating "high- mindedness," or striving to make himself a pattern of
decorous wit.
10. LATER LISTS OF THE VIRTUES.--The codes proposed by the
moralists of a later time are numerous and widely scattering. It is
impossible to do justice to them in any brief compass. A very few
instances, selected from among those most familiar to English readers,
must suffice to indicate the diversity of their nature.
Hobbes [Footnote: Leviathan, chapter xv.], deeply concerned to
discover some modus vivendi which should put a check upon strife
between man and his