Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Question I wanted to ask in class..
There is probably an easy answer for this, but I need help getting a big picture view of some things. What is the role/purpose of courage and temperance in light of virtue? How do courage and temperance relate to each other? In the reading for last class, Aristotle seemed to jump from one idea to the next (from courage to temperance.) Is temperance a fundamental characteristic of virtue, thus courage is a way to portray this?
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I would look again at the last chapter in book 3. There courage and temperance are indicated in some connections to each other.
ReplyDeleteTemperance involves refraining from possible (but not ultimately beneficial) pleasures, and courage involves enduring pain for the sake of some greater end. Maybe these two virtues are addressed first and most comprehensively because the right attitude toward pleasure and pain is basic to our ethical education. More, courage may be first because enduring pain for beautiful ends is the hardest but most important of all ethical work.
Take generosity and think about how lacking control over pleasure and pain (via the first 2 virtues introduced) could get in the way of being generous.