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Virtue ethics (also aretaic ethics, [a] [1] from Greek ἀρετή ) is a philosophical approach that treats virtue and character as the primary subjects of ethics, in contrast to other ethical systems that put consequences of voluntary acts, principles or rules of conduct, or obedience to divine authority in the primary role.
Alongside Aristotle's ethics, the Stoic tradition forms one of the major founding approaches to virtue ethics. [2] The Stoics are especially known for teaching that "virtue is the only good" for human beings, and that external things, such as health, wealth, and pleasure, are not good or bad in themselves but have value as "material for virtue ...
They form a virtue theory of ethics. The term cardinal comes from the Latin cardo (hinge); [1] these four virtues are called "cardinal" because all other virtues fall under them and hinge upon them. [2] These virtues derive initially from Plato in Republic Book IV, 426-435. [a] Aristotle expounded them systematically in the Nicomachean Ethics.
ἀρετή: Virtue. Goodness and human excellence. askêsis ἄσκησις: disciplined training designed to achieve virtue. ataraxia ἀταραξία: tranquillity, untroubled by external things. autarkeia αὐτάρκεια: self-sufficiency, mental independence of all things.
Temperance is a major Athenian virtue, as advocated by Plato; self-restraint (sôphrosune) is one of his four core virtues of the ideal city. In "Charmides", one of Plato's early dialogues, an attempt is made to describe temperance, but fails to reach an adequate definition.
In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Book 2, chapter 6: "Virtue (arete), then, is a habit or trained faculty of choice, the characteristic of which lies in moderation or observance of the mean relatively to the persons concerned, as determined by reason, i.e., by the reason by which the prudent man would determine it." [14]
The foundation of Stoic ethics is that good lies in the state of the soul itself; in wisdom and self-control. One must therefore strive to be free of the passions. For the Stoics, reason meant using logic and understanding the processes of nature—the logos or universal reason, inherent in all things. [24]
Aristo of Chios (Greek: Ἀρίστων ὁ Χῖος Ariston ho Chios; fl. c. 260 BC), also spelled Ariston, was a Greek Stoic philosopher and colleague of Zeno of Citium. [1] He outlined a system of Stoic philosophy that was, in many ways, closer to earlier Cynic philosophy.