virtue

virtue, in philosophy, the conformity of life and conduct with the principles of morality.

(Read Peter Singer’s Britannica entry on ethics.)

An enumeration of four cardinal virtues is said to go back to Socrates and is certainly to be found in Plato and Aristotle. These are prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice and are considered natural, or cardinal (from Latin cardo, “hinge”), virtues because on them all lesser attitudes hinge. To these four, Christianity added the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. According to Christian teaching, the theological virtues do not originate from humanity, as do the natural virtues; instead they are imparted by God. In Western history the emphasis on virtuous action as the goal of learning was a founding principle of humanism and especially characterized the work of English humanists from Thomas Elyot to John Milton. In the mid-20th century eudaemonism and virtue ethics were revived as sophisticated and psychologically more realistic alternatives to action-based ethical theories such as consequentialism.