When it comes to the definition of what it truly means to live a moral life, I interpret the concept as living morally to add meaning to your actions instead of pursuing them dogmatically.
The Four Cardinal Virtues—justice, prudence, fortitude, and temperance—are crucial in building an individual’s disposition. These cardinal traits unveil themselves when a person becomes focused on not just who they want to be but how they want to present themselves to society. Justice plays a key component in guiding an individuals toward fairness and morally reasonable decisions. Prudence gives an individual wisdom behind the actions they pursue. Fortitude is the strength that helps motivate said individual to commit the right actions. Lastly, temperance is what ties all four traits together, aiding an individual who is looking for self-control within themselves.
However, some may question whether it is entirely worth adhering to the four cardinal virtues and becoming virtuous when it seems that the vicious prosper instead. To this, I counter that common injustice throughout society is what provides even more reason to develop virtue. When looked at, how often are vicious individuals actually content with the lives they have led? It seems that many of the vicious are left reconsidering their actions once they stumble upon someone with moral excellence. The vicious come to realize that when faced with someone who truly lives a life of virtue, this individual who holds virtue seems to not be concerned with the indulgence of goodness but rather embody goodness itself. A probable observation that the vicious slowly learn to admire. Aristotle wrote famously in his philosophical treatise Nicomachean Ethics: “The present inquiry does not aim at theoretical knowledge like the others (for we are inquiring not in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, since otherwise our inquiry would have been of no use), we must examine the nature of actions, namely how we ought to do them…” Ultimately, this reflects on the evolution of true virtue, which is about becoming good, rather than feeling good.
One virtue that I would like to highlight due to its absence nowadays in society would be empathy. I believe that in our current age, many individuals, especially through the internet, have lost their sense of compassion for others, making a lack of empathy in this generation an injustice to society. Social media, a lifeline that some believe brings us as a society closer, has widely demonstrated a lack of empathy and compassion that many are displaying publicly. In order to contradict the lack of empathy faced in our society, I believe that we as individuals should act on the principle of reciprocity. A lesson that has been taught to us since childhood: treating others how we would as well like to be treated. Through this principle, as well as using the four cardinal traits of virtue to our advantage, we could aid in lessening society’s lack of empathy, providing a realization that our actions and speech have strong influences on others.
Virtue is not a feeling in itself, but an appropriate psychological disposition in response to said feeling. Living virtuously will contribute to our ability to enter an enduring state of fulfillment. Aristotle’s perspective on moral virtue is one he says, ”comes about as a result of habit”, painting virtue as a habit rather than a one-time occurrence, illustrating one to believe that they are virtuous through a long segment of good deeds.
With all things considered, I leave my reader with one question: When was the last time you did something out of pure altruism rather than for social gratification?