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Single Idea 14060
[filed under theme 23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / b. Basis of virtue
]
Full Idea
Prudence is the principle of the rational life and is the greatest good. That is why prudence is more valuable than philosophy, for prudence is the source of all the other virtues.
Gist of Idea
Prudence is the greatest good, and more valuable than philosophy, because it produces virtue
Source
Epicurus (Letter to Menoeceus [c.291 BCE], 132)
Book Ref
Epicurus: 'The Epicurus Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B. /Gerson,L. [Hackett 1994], p.31
A Reaction
['prudence' will be Greek 'phronesis']The interest of this is that it is almost copied straight out of Aristotle's Ethics. Epicurus was an opponent of the Peripatetics, but greatly influenced by them.
Related Ideas
Idea 80
Virtue ensures that we have correct aims, and prudence that we have correct means of achieving them [Aristotle]
Idea 82
The one virtue of prudence carries with it the possession of all the other virtues [Aristotle]
The
22 ideas
with the same theme
[foundation and justification for belief in virtues]:
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5149
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The two main parts of the soul give rise to two groups of virtues - intellectual, and moral
[Aristotle]
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5156
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How can good actions breed virtues, if you need to be virtuous to perform good actions?
[Aristotle]
|
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5157
|
If a thing has excellence, this makes the thing good, and means it functions well
[Aristotle]
|
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5872
|
Excellence is the best state of anything (like a cloak) which has an employment or function
[Aristotle]
|
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625
|
Is excellence separate from things, or part of them, or both?
[Aristotle]
|
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14060
|
Prudence is the greatest good, and more valuable than philosophy, because it produces virtue
[Epicurus]
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20855
|
Chrysippus says virtue can be lost (though Cleanthes says it is too secure for that)
[Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius]
|
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5970
|
Chrysippus says nothing is blameworthy, as everything conforms with the best nature
[Chrysippus, by Plutarch]
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23181
|
All acts of virtue relate to justice, which is directed towards the common good
[Aquinas]
|
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21871
|
The more we strive for our own advantage, the more virtuous we are
[Spinoza]
|
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17210
|
All virtue is founded on self-preservation
[Spinoza]
|
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17214
|
To act virtuously is to act rationally
[Spinoza]
|
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12515
|
Actions are virtuous if they are judged praiseworthy
[Locke]
|
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6232
|
Every creature has a right and a wrong state which guide its actions, so there must be a natural end
[Shaftesbury]
|
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23672
|
To be virtuous, we must care about duty
[Reid]
|
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8097
|
Virtue is hard if we are scorned; we need support
[Joubert]
|
|
14818
|
First morality is force, then custom, then acceptance, then instinct, then a pleasure - and finally 'virtue'
[Nietzsche]
|
|
21742
|
Originally virtue was obedience, to gods, government, or custom
[Russell]
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22478
|
The essential thing is the 'needs' of plants and animals, and their operative parts
[Foot]
|
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22398
|
Virtues are corrective, to resist temptation or strengthen motivation
[Foot]
|
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5076
|
To Greeks it seemed obvious that the virtue of anything is the perfection of its function
[Taylor,R]
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20195
|
Eudaimonia first; virtue is a trait which promotes it; right acts are what virtues produce
[Hursthouse, by Zagzebski]
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