Delphic Maxim 26: Praise virtue
I’ve set myself the challenge of responding to each Delphic Maxim for 15 minutes a day.
26. Praise virtue
In previous posts, I’ve mentioned the Aristotelian triad of episteme (scientific knowledge), techne (craft or artisanal knowledge) and phronesis (practical wisdom). These are three of what Aristotle described as the intellectual virtues. They’re a pretty natural fit for praiseworthy intellectual conduct: know things about the world, be able to apply them, and apply them in a way that is responsible in a given situation. But these are only intellectual virtues, and ‘the virtues’ were a central dimension in heroic life and society. So it’s important to get a sense of the moral virtues if we want a fuller understanding of this maxim.
The pursuit of excellence and happiness should be the ultimate aim in a person’s life, and we achieve this, the argument goes, in refining our habits of virtuous conduct. In his Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle outlines the moral virtues as existing on a scale between two extremes — an abundance of a certain quality is too much, and too little deprives us, so we should aim for the golden mean. The virtues he lists are these:
Courage
Aristotle was talking about the context of battle, but this extends to the battles of every day life (or at least we should extend it to this today. Courage or bravery is a confidence in carrying yourself through life, facing situations head on. An excess of courage is foolhardiness, a deficiency is cowardice. In all the virtues, one extreme is worse than the other — even if both are undesirable — and in this instance Aristotle argued that cowardice was the worse of the two.
Temperance
Temperance relates to physical pleasures — it’s basically a call to be moderate, to not indulge to excess. The contrary vice would probably be gluttony. In fact, a pronounced deficiency of temperance would be gluttony or self-indulgence, and an excess would be extreme austerity. The worse? Likely gluttony, since the mean of temperance is about restraint and control of the self.
Liberality
I read this as more as a call to be generous, but more recent criticism of Aristotle (even from friendly quarters like Alasdair McIntyre) points out that this virtue is an instance where Aristotle shows his elitism. You’d call it classist today: Aristotle suggests that people should have wealth enough to share and be generous. I’d translate this in contemporary terms into being as generous as possible — giving away too much is silly, sharing too little is stingy (and the worse of the two).
Magnificence
Magnificence is a fascinating ‘virtue’ — it’s about ensuring that the things you buy are lovely. It’s easier to describe this in its extremes: an excess is vulgarity (or tackiness), a deficiency is frugality and is boring. Aristotle puts it nicely: “a magnificent man is like an artist; for he can see what is fitting and spend large sums tastefully”. But again…a little classist.
Pride
Funnily enough, these days this is read as a vice — the influence of Christianity on our philosophical and moral traditions. But back in heroic society, the idea that a person would not carry themselves with pride was actually a vice. There’s a way to do pride that doesn’t come across as its excess: arrogance. Strike the mean here, pride relates in a sense to courage — it’s about conviction and respect for your own character.
Good temper
A no brainer, think about good temper as the ‘temperance’ of emotions. We all struggle with this one — and striving to be virtuous in the domain of temper involves not being quick to anger, but not being totally insensible either. Being good natured and happy for the most part is the best way to ensure a good temper — and oftentimes the Stoics had a good view of this virtue as well.
Friendliness
I’ve mentioned in a number of these posts how obsessed the ancients were with friendship, so it’s no surprise that friendliness occurs as a virtue as well. In modern life, people are often so caught up in a rush that it feels difficult to be friendly. But it pays off. A smile, a chat with the people you encounter, making an effort to be friendly improves the quality of your own day no end. And what is the deficiency in this quality? Rudeness, meanness. Certainly not desirable.
Truthfulness
This is an interesting virtue, because it comes up against the strategic imperatives that sometimes played out in Greek epics. Take Odysseus for example, who was known for his strategic use of deception. Often he is described as unvirtuous, which is a shame because I think he’s an archetype of a true hero. But telling the truth is important, and Aristotle saw this as crucial in social interactions — he specifically asks us to ‘avoid boastfulness’, which I think locates the concept of ‘truthfulness’ in a particular domain: honesty about ourselves, and with those in our society.
Wit
I love that we get to end on wit. Specifically, Aristotle mentions ‘quick wittedness’ — he considered it a virtue to have a snappy comeback, to be able to crack a clever joke. I think this virtue straddles the line of intellectual virtues as well. He says that an excess of humour is buffoonery of course, but ready wit leavens social situations, and brings laughter to our lives. It makes sense as a virtue, and one that we don’t often consider when we think about what makes for excellence of character.
So that turned out to be a super brief (but much longer than 15 minute) summary of the virtues. Are they worthy of praise? Yes. And worth practicing every day to improve our characters.
