A History of Philosophy in EpitomeSchwegler, Albert
Philosophy
A History of Philosophy in Epitome
Schwegler, Albert
Philosophy -- History
It follows from this general conception of virtue, that there will be as
many separate virtues as there are circumstances of life, and as men are
ever entering into new relations, in which it becomes difficult
practically to determine the correct method of action, Aristotle, in
opposition to Plato, would limit the field of separate virtues by no
definite number. Only certain fundamental virtues can be named according
as there are certain fixed and fundamental relations among men. For
instance, man has a fixed relation to pleasure and pain. In relation to
pain, the true moral mean is found in neither fearing nor courting it,
and this is valor. In relation to pleasure, the true mean standing
between greediness and indifference is temperance. In social life, the
moral mean is between doing and suffering wrong, which is justice. In a
similar way many other virtues might be characterized, each one of them
standing as a mean between two vices, the one of which expresses a want
and the other a superfluity. A closer exhibition of the Aristotelian
doctrine of virtue would have much psychological and linguistic
interest, though but little philosophical worth. Aristotle takes the
conception of his virtues more from the use of language than from a
thoroughly applied principle of classification. His classification of
virtues is, therefore, without any stable ground, and is differently
given in different places. The conception of the correct mean which
Aristotle makes the measure of a moral act is obviously unworthy of a
systematic representation, for as it cannot be determined how the
intelligent man would act in every case, there could never be given any
specific directions how others should act. In fine, the criterion of
virtue as the correct mean between two vices cannot be always applied
for in the virtue of wisdom, _e. g._ which Aristotle describes as the
mean between simplicity and cunning, there is no such thing as too much.
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