How Virtue is taught

Abstract

Crantor, a Greek philosopher who lived about three hundred years before Christ, relates that one day the divinities like Wealth, Pleasure, Honor, Health and Virtue, suddenly appeared before the throng (crowd) at the Olympic games and asked the judges of the Areopagus (The highest judicial and legislative council of ancient Athens.) to decide which of them most favorably influenced man’s happiness. Wealth dazzled for a moment the judges’ eyes, but Pleasure soon showed that he was only a means to her as an end. Honor claimed that Wealth and Pleasure were but things of a day unless linked to lasting renown, but then up rose Health and declared that without her all three were practically worthless. Virtue ended the dispute by making all the Greeks admit that even glory is but transitory, and that Wealth, Pleasure, Honor, and Health, without Virtue, become evils for those who do not know how to use them with discretion.

In this Paper an attempt has been made to understand “How Virtue is taught?”  and why virtue is important for life. The first question implies two questions,

1. Is virtue teachable to at least one man?
2. Second, if virtue can be taught to at least one man, can it be taught to any man?

We must clarify the meaning and concepts about virtue: what is virtue? Virtue is the quality of man which discerns right from wrong. It first requires having the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, and then requires a mental judgment about it. Virtue is all about three things:

1. The knowledge of right and wrong,

2. The ability to discern right from wrong and

3. The finally the right action that man takes.

Virtues are desirable ways of relating to other individuals, groups, and organizations. They have much to do with motives, attitudes, and emotions, as they do with right and wrong conduct. Virtue makes possible a harmonious society likewise a harmonious society allows us to cultivate the virtues. To act ethically often requires a high degree of virtue.