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Meno and socrates on virtues
Meno and socrates on virtues
Plato's view of virtue
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Virtue is an active choice. Even the things you don’t think about doing, it is still an unconscious choice. Ransom chose to run away, he chose to live with the Hrossa, and he chose to make the journey to Oyarsa, just to name a few. Ransom’s life at Malacandra was full of choices, just as our lives are full of choices. Some people might say that virtue is not an active choice.
Virtue has positive connotations across all interpretations of the word. The most common definition refers to moral characteristics. When people speak about another’s virtue, they mention honesty, courage, and kindness, to name a few. Virtue is also about accepted moral standards, so the normalized virtuous qualities change even though the meaning stays the same. For instance, in archaic terms, virtue refers to a woman’s sexual purity, and it was considered a desirable quality to have to find a husband.
The great Aristotle declared, “We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.” Virtue should be defined as perfect or righteous. However, it can be argued that because Ransom is a man, and man is sinful, he could not choose to be virtuous. Because this is the case, and man is inherently sinful as Jesus said in Matthew, “No one is good but One, that is, God” (Mark 10:18), we will adapt Merriam Webster’s definition of virtue, “Conformity to a standard of right, morality. A particular moral excellence” (merriam-webster.com).
A virtue is when a person behaves in a moral manner. Certain virtues that societies should possess can be harmful. Typically, good virtues, such as honor, courage, and compassion. are commonly used by people as a way of living. Every society should live by the good virtues and strive to ensure that all citizens are treated equally.
Virtue is important when people consider their own characters: virtues are what defines a person, what they stand for, what they believe in. The argument made here is that virtue is a type of knowledge, as Plato states in Meno. In Meno, Socrates and Meno talk about how virtue is not a type of knowledge, up until they describe it. Socrates says, “If then virtue is something in the soul and it must be beneficial, it must be knowledge, since all the qualities of the soul are in themselves neither beneficial nor harmful, but accompanied by wisdom or folly they become harmful or beneficial.” (88c4-88d2)
Controversial, the concept of virtue itself has been debated for thousands of years. Difficult to define and mingling with religion, virtue stuns us with its complexity. Still maintaining a key role in general ethics, its level of mystery is truly impressive. Early philosophers, including well-known Plato, documented their understandings of virtue in the distinctive conversations, primarily within the Meno. Approximately dated in 402 bce, the dialogue encompasses a thorough analysis of virtue primarily between Meno and Socrates, ultimately aimed to determine whether virtue is truly inherited in human nature or taught.
In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book ll, he explains that virtue is a habit of right action, formed by acting rightly (Nicomachean Ethics, p. 71). What he means by this is that everyone has the chance to act virtuously, but we must for work at doing what is right. Aristotle thought we should be virtuous because if we live virtuously than we will have a better life over
Virtue can be different for everyone. For some, it may be as simple as kindness- giving something to a person in need. For others, virtue has a different, more ____(deep but in a more sophisticated way) meaning. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird attempts to define virtue through the character Atticus, a public defense lawyer in a small Alabamian town. When he agrees to defend a black man wrongly accused of rape, both he and his children are victims of the town’s deeply ingrained prejudice and bias.
In the Meno, Socrates gives an argument in favor of the view that, if to be virtuous is to desire good things, then everyone is virtuous. The purpose of this argument is not to define virtue as desiring good things, but to point out that this is clearly not how virtue is defined. I will object to the idea that harm always leads to misery and make the claim that it is inconsistent that someone would desire bad things, knowing they’re bad and knowing they’re harmful, on the basis that it is possible for someone to desire harmful things. I will claim that it is possible for someone to desire harmful things because they know that harm will not lead to a permanent state of misery. Socrates’ argument supposes that to be virtuous is to “desire good
Aristotle describes virtue theory as an ethical theory that emphasizes an individual 's character rather than following a set of rules. Breaking it down even further to specify knowing right from wrong, being able to read an atmosphere by knowing what is right, and it is the midpoint between two extremes. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. display to be a virtue ethicists through his letter oppose to being a deontologist or utilitarian. Laws define a set of rules that the people should follow; however, there are unjust laws that are meant to be challenged.
Out of the Silent Planet What is virtue? Merriam-Webster defines virtue as morally good behavior or character. So how does one become truly virtuous? Must they simply avoid evil or morally wrong behavior? Or must virtue be an active choice?
Virtue is defined in many ways. Some say that it comes from the Latin word ‘virtus’, meaning virtue or courage, which comes from the other Latin word ‘vir’, which means man, meaning that virtue is the qualities of a man, such as courage. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines virtue as, “conformity to a standard of right [and/or] a particular moral excellence” (Merriam-Webster 899). With all these definitions floating around, it is hard to determine what virtues really is and what it really means to have virtue. In Plato’s Meno, Socrates and Meno discuss the definition of virtue and whether it can be taught.
The idea of virtue ethics was first introduced to the world by Aristotle over 2,300 years ago in 325 BC (Rachels 173). Virtue ethics operate on the belief that people develop good character by looking at the virtues they admire in other people and emulating them. In order to do this, a person must ask themselves what kind of person they want to be and focus on choosing characteristics not specific people to emulate. Unfortunately, virtue ethics were quickly overshadowed by other perspectives on ethical theory as Christianity gained popularity and values changed. As time went on people stopped asking themselves, “What traits make a good person?”
Virtue in his term is one that can meet the highest point of happiness; rich, fame, power, etc. In today’s society, it is kindness, intelligence, friendlessness, courage, etc. He would consider a celebrity to be at the highest peak of virtue and gain happiness, however, the happiness is normally attained even at that height. Someone who is poor and is sacrificing their food and money to help another poor family is someone to be considered as a true virtuous person. Aristotle didn’t think of how differently society would be then and now.
The ultimate goal of human life for Plato is to know and understand the truth or the “eidos” of the “good”. The only way for us to see this truth is through our minds. The truth is not accessible in the physical world but in the intellectual realm. For us to be happy or for use to know the truth is only when we are beyond our physical sense it is a totally different level. So according to Plato, “knowledge” and “virtue” are corollary meaning that as long as one exists the other will follow.