Single Idea 5966

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / a. Nature of virtue]

Full Idea

Although deeds done in accordance with virtue are congenial, not all are cited as examples, such as courageously extending one's finger, or continently abstaining from a half-dead old woman, or not immediately agreeing that three is four.

Gist of Idea

All virtue is good, but not always praised (as in not lusting after someone ugly)

Source

Chrysippus (fragments/reports [c.240 BCE], fr 211), quoted by Plutarch - 70: Stoic Self-contradictions 1038f

Book Reference

Plutarch: 'Moralia - vol 13 part 2', ed/tr. Cherniss,Harold [Harvard Loeb 1993], p.459


A Reaction

Presumably the point (so elegantly expressed - what a shame we have lost most of Chrysippus) is that virtue comes in degrees, even though its value is an absolute. The same has been said (by Russell and Bonjour) about self-evidence.