I got to explain the four cardinal virtues today -
prudence (practical wisdom),
justice,
fortitude (courage) and
temperance (moderation). In our text Josef Pieper (expounding
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Thomas Aquinas, who's following Aristotle), argued you couldn't have any of the cardinal virtues without having them all - but also (with Aquinas going beyond Aristotle) asserted that you need to receive the theological virtues (
faith,
hope and
charity/love) to really have the cardinal virtues.
I'd forgotten how I
love this material - it's my first time teaching it in five years. By golly, I find I actually think it's true. (You can even be a religious naturalist about the theological virtues, I think, at least up to a point: you can't make yourself have hope or faith or love, but they evidently happen. Something makes them possible, something mysterious, bigger than us but of which we are a part.)