Four Cardinal Virtues Essay Research Paper In

Four Cardinal Virtues Essay, Research Paper In our study of the four cardinal virtues we have been learning many ideas and theories on how to live ?the good life.? It was very difficult in the beginning of this semester to define what ?the good life? means. After studying the virtues and their theories it became very clear to us what ?the good life? is all about. Josef Pieper, the author of the book we have been studying, has made it very simple to understand how to be a good human being. Christian thinking and morality has played a major role in the understanding of the four virtues. The so-called four cardinal virtues that we have been studying are prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. According to Pieper these four virtues are the key elements in trying to achieve the highest good. Pieper believes that these virtues are necessary in order for a human being to fulfill the Christian image of man. These virtues exercise a person?s moral, spiritual, emotional, and physical self. Every virtue has its own importance with prudence being the most important, or mother of all virtues. The order of importance of these virtues is as follows, from most to least important: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. To study these virtues we began with the virtue of prudence and worked our way down. We began to realize that these virtues are very dependent on the virtues that are above in importance. For example, fortitude depends on prudence and justice. You cannot have fortitude without first achieving prudence and justice. This distinction makes these virtues very interesting and as a result presents a strong case as to why they are crucial for human beings to possess. The ability to attain all of these virtues is something that all humans should strive for because it would be to the best for society. In the following I will analyze each virtue separately and show how they all tie together to form the ?Christian image of man.? First I will start with the most important virtue of them all, prudence, and then move on to justice, fortitude, and finally temperance. The first and most important virtue is the virtue of prudence. This is known as the mother of all virtues because it is the first step towards working to become a good human being. ??none but the prudent man can be just, brave, and temperate, and the good man is good in so far as he is prudent.? This quote here is the best explanation that can be given to show the importance of prudence to the Christian doctrine of man. From this quote we see that prudence is necessary in order for a human being to be just, brave, and temperate. The reason prudence is so crucial is because it is the ability to make good decisions. In order for a human being to be able to make good decisions he or she must be able to know what is good and what is not good. There is a very special relationship between the virtue of prudence and the idea of good. ?Classical Christian ethics maintains that man can be prudent and good only simultaneously; that prudence is part and parcel of the definition of goodness.? It is very important for one to understand this unique relationship between prudence and the idea of goodness. One cannot have one without the other. Prudence is the whole idea of one being able to recognize what is good and always be able to act in the good way. We will see later how this relationship is also very vital to the virtue of justice. The virtue of prudence is the hardest to attain due to the fact that a human being must be able to recognize what is good. This makes it necessary for the person to also be able to know what is good and what constitutes what good is. This is not something that we can all be able to do overnight; the ability to know what is good is something that can only be attained through moral and just thinking. When a person begins to recognize the good and act in moral and just ways, that is when he or she has attained the virtue of prudence and has become a prudent human being. It has been necessary for me to use the words just and moral because one cannot talk about prudence without mentioning everything it deals with. Although justice is the next virtue in the order and is dependent on prudence, one must still use the concept of justice when explaining prudence because that is what prudence is, just actions. ??there is no sort of justice and fortitude which runs counter to the virtue of prudence; and that the unjust man has been imprudent before and is imprudent at the moment he is unjust.? Here, Pieper makes it clear to us that an imprudent man will be unjust in his actions. To show how important prudence is to the Christian image of man, Pieper states the following: ?Prudence is the cause of the other virtues? being virtues at all.? Well, I have already explained that for a person to fulfill the Christian image of man he or she must first attain the four cardinal virtues. And if prudence is the cause of the other three virtues, then it must be the basis of the Christian image of man. If prudence is the basis of the Christian image of man, it is very important for every human being to try to become prudent so that he or she can become a person of goodness. After saying all that, it becomes clear that the Christian image of man is an image that calls for human beings to be good. This is why the most crucial part of attaining the four virtues is being able to recognize and know what the good is. ?Prudence is the ?measure? of justice, of fortitude, of temperance.? This is also very important because it shows how justice, fortitude, and temperance are not only dependent on prudence; they are also measured by prudence. What Pieper means when he says measured is this: ?..the decree of prudence is the prototype and the pre-existing form of which all ethically good action is the transcript.? In other words a good action becomes just, brave, and temperate due to the decree of prudence. This goes back to what I was saying about the good and prudence; the relationship is that ?whatever is good must first have been prudent.? Since prudence calls for the person to be able to recognize the good, a person must then have knowledge about reality. The knowledge of reality is important because one must be able to know what is good in a situation. In order for a person to be able to do this he or she must understand the principles of reason and the singulars with which ethical action is concerned. I believe that all of these actions and realizations are there so that a person may be able to find the just action. This will then lead me to the next virtue in order, which is the virtue of justice. The virtue of justice is the next virtue in line of importance. This virtue is very dependent on the virtue of prudence for many obvious reasons. The virtue of justice is one which calls for persons to give other persons what is due to them. An unjust person is one who takes or withholds something that belongs to someone else. ?All just order in the world is based on this: that man give man what is his due.? Above we saw how justice was closely tied to prudence. I also explained how prudence is a virtue, which teaches humans to know the good. ?Justice is something that comes second: right comes before justice.? This piece of text explains the concept of right comes before justice. As we have seen justice is a virtue, which depends on prudence, and prudence is the ability to recognize what is right. Once a person understands this, it becomes evident as to why prudence precedes justice. Justice asks the human person to act rightly; before a person can do that he or she must know what is right. Prudence is what teaches us what the right and good are and then a person can become just. This is very unique amongst all of the virtues, the fact that one aspect of a virtue affects the next virtue in line. This very unique relationship shows the importance of humans being fully moral. A person cannot act justly while imprudent; this is impossible. Once a person becomes prudent then he or she can move on to act justly. Justice states that man must receive what is his due. This claim has caused much controversy on how do we know, as humans, what is our due. One of the answers that Pieper gives is based on the fact that man is given certain rights through creation. ?It is through creation that the created being first comes to have his rights.? This does not mean that God owes us certain rights for being created; God does not owe us anything, it is the fellow humans who must give each other what it rightfully theirs. All humans, as a community, must recognize what is ours and must not infringe on anybody else?s property. This is where justice plays its most important role in society. Justice is there so that we do not hurt each other by not treating each other fairly. Justice, in its basic form, keeps all humans aware of the fact that we all have rights and must respect each other?s rights. For example: if I am asked by another person to do a certain job for him for a specific amount of money and we do this through mutual agreement, then that person is obliged to pay me. There are many other factors that play a role in this situation, however considering that I do the job to fulfill what we agreed on, then that person owes me a certain due. It is unjust if that person does not pay what he promised me if I gave him what I said I would. This very simple situation brings justice in to play, and justice is the reason that I now have something due to me. If that person is a just person then he will pay me. Humans deal with each other in everyday life in many situations. Usually justice is the basic element that builds trust between individuals. If I see someone act in an unjust manner then I will not be inclined to trust that person. In order for us to trust and respect each other we must learn to be just with one another. Once a person develops the notion to act justly and not try to hurt another person, then he or she has taken a big step forward towards fulfilling the Christian image of man. Then it becomes necessary to move on and try to develop and attain the next virtue towards becoming a Christian human, which is fortitude. I will now move on to explain what fortitude is and its role in the process of becoming a Christian being. I will also show how this virtue is dependent on the previous two, prudence and justice. This next virtue, fortitude, is the one that interested me the most in our study of the four virtues. The reason it interested me so much is because of what it explains in human beings? actions. The virtue of fortitude is the one virtue that deals with suffering and injury; but deals with it in a manner where it justifies humans? death in certain situations. This may sound very complicated; but it is really very simple and is crucial in the process of fulfilling the ideal Christian image of man. Fortitude is the readiness to give up ones life, suffer injury, and be brave in the name of something that is just and moral. ?Fortitude is basically readiness to die or, more accurately, readiness to fall, to die, in battle.? However, the battle must be one that is for a just and moral cause. If a human believes that there is injustice and immorality in any sort, then he or she must fight against the injustice and immorality no matter how much pain and suffering they face. The ultimate test of fortitude would be death for a good cause. I have already written a short paper on this specific issue. Death is considered to be the ultimate test of fortitude due to the fact that a human faces the biggest fear in life, which is death. Pieper explains to us that fear is not perceived as a bad thing, in fact it is an important aspect of fortitude. When a human being is suffering injury in the name of God, he or she does not do it just for the sake of the injury. People who withstand pain, suffering, and ultimately death do it for the idea that they cannot live in a society where injustice is O.K. This does not mean that a martyr perceives life as of little worth; a martyr faces an outstanding fear of entering the unknowable for the idea that humans must not live amongst injustice. Humans must be able to recognize any type of injustice around them and act to change that injustice into the good. God puts us on earth so that we may live just, moral, and good lives. This is not possible unless we all recognize the good and devote ourselves to eliminating injustice and immorality. When a man is ready to give up his life for a good cause, this should tell the rest of society that we must not go on with injustice as a part of life. Humans have the power to become good men and women through just and moral thinking. If a person gives up his or her life for a cause, then this should tell us that something is wrong and it must be altered. When a person gives up his or her life for something, this means that the person was not able to go on living experiencing the immorality and injustice that was occurring. Many of the injustices that occur in today?s society are due to humans not knowing or understanding the need to know ourselves and be able to comprehend what is good not only for ourselves but for the rest of society. Many times these injustices occur due to humans not being able to control their desires, which leads to unnecessary beliefs and actions. The final virtue of temperance is the one that deals with the issue of desire. This next virtue tries to explain how humans need to be in order for us to fulfill the Christian image of man. I will now move on to briefly talk about this virtue and show its importance in the process of becoming an ideal Christian. Temperance is a virtue that we have not studied as closely as the other three. This virtue deals with the difficult task of humans being able to give things for our well being. The main theme of temperance is selfless self-preservation. What this means is that humans must be able to act in good manner for their own good. For example, if I love to eat chocolate and do it everyday, I must be able to control my desire for chocolate be knowing that it is for my own benefit as well as to the benefit of society. It may sound strange that me not eating too much chocolate will benefit society, however this is a very basic example. Whenever humans consume too much of something not only are they affecting their own selves, they are also affecting the rest of society. We live in a country where food and drinks are not that hard to find; in fact we have too much of it and waste a lot of it. While we are wasting all this food, there are people in other parts of the world whom sometimes go a whole day without anything healthy to eat. This is a perfect example of the type of injustices we are living amongst. Temperance teaches humans to know themselves and have inner knowledge of what they really ?need? and what we consume. Humans must understand that we can be selfless or selfish. If we act selfishly then we are not caring about the rest of society and are only looking to please ourselves only. On the other hand, a selfless person is one who recognizes that there are other people around us and understand that whatever we do may affect the rest of society. ?For man there are two modes of this turning toward the self: a selfless and a selfish one. Only the former makes for self-preservation; the latter is destructive.? This piece of text shows the fact that the sole thing that can throw a person into destruction is the self. In other words it is our self-being that controls what happens around us. If we want to live in a just, moral, and good society then our self-being can see that this occurs. ?Most difficult to grasp is the fact that it is indeed the essential human self that is capable of throwing itself into disorder to the point of self-destruction.? This is the one unique and distinct point in the virtue of temperance. This virtue is the only virtue that deals with the human self. ?Temperantia is distinguished from the other cardinal virtues by the fact that it refers exclusively to the active man himself. Prudence looks to all existent reality; justice to the fellow man; the man of fortitude relinquishes, in self-forgetfulness, his own possessions and his life. Temperance, on the other hand, aims at each man himself.? To sum things up, I have tried to show how a person who attains these four cardinal virtues can become the ideal Christian being. This does not mean you have to be Christian in order to attain these virtues, because when we say the ideal Christian being, we mean a good person. All humans who attain these four virtues are people who have dedicated their self-being and life to do what God asks from all of us. What I have tried to show is how these four virtues are distinct from each other but yet so dependent and connected with one another. Humans must understand that we are not living our lives so that we may enjoy pleasure and wealth at the expense of the rest of society. We are all on earth together and everything we do affects each other. Therefore we must try our hardest to only involve ourselves in good action; in this way our action will affect the rest of society in only a good manner. I have also tried to express the importance of understanding what the good is. Humans are good in nature; sometimes it is our surroundings that make us act immorally and in a bad fashion. This is why it is necessary to always try and keep a good surrounding. This can be achieved if all humans attain the four cardinal virtues. Therefore, in order to live in a society that is full of nothing but justice, morality, and good; we must all work towards fulfilling the Christian image of man. This can be achieved simply by attaining the ?Four Cardinal Virtues.?