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Single Idea 21484
[filed under theme 23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / e. Character
]
Full Idea
As a botanist can recognise the whole plant from one leaf, …so an accurate knowledge of a man's character can be arrived at from a single characteristic action.
Gist of Idea
A man's character can be learned from a single characteristic action
Source
Arthur Schopenhauer (Parerga and Paralipomena [1851], VIII:118)
Book Ref
Schopenhauer,Arthur: 'Essays and Aphorisms [from Pand P]', ed/tr. Hollingdale,R.J. [Penguin 1970], p.144
A Reaction
Very true. Great novelists specialise in such observations. One word can reveal a character, as well as one action.
The
46 ideas
with the same theme
[concern with good persons, rather than actions]:
433
|
For man character is destiny
[Heraclitus]
|
541
|
Virtue comes more from habit than character
[Critias]
|
540
|
The way you spend your time will form your character
[Antiphon]
|
126
|
We should ask what sort of people we want to be
[Socrates]
|
118
|
I would rather be a victim of crime than a criminal
[Plato]
|
5222
|
A person of good character sees the truth about what is actually fine and pleasant
[Aristotle]
|
4394
|
People develop their characters through the activities they pursue
[Aristotle]
|
5239
|
When people speak of justice they mean a disposition of character to behave justly
[Aristotle]
|
4386
|
Character can be heroic, excellent, controlled, uncontrolled, bad, or brutish
[Aristotle, by Urmson]
|
5250
|
The three states of character to avoid are vice, 'akrasia' and brutishness
[Aristotle]
|
4379
|
It is very hard to change a person's character traits by argument
[Aristotle]
|
5874
|
Character virtues (such as courage) are of the non-rational part, which follows the rational part
[Aristotle]
|
5875
|
Character (éthos) is developed from habit (ethos)
[Aristotle]
|
22516
|
Character is shown by what is or is not enjoyed, and virtue chooses the mean among them
[Aristotle]
|
22517
|
We judge character not by their actions, but by their reasons for actions
[Aristotle]
|
14517
|
We value our own character, whatever it is, and we should respect the characters of others
[Epicurus]
|
7896
|
The foolish gradually fill with evil, like a slowly-filled water-jar
[Anon (Dham)]
|
7897
|
The wise gradually fill with good, like a slowly-filled water-jar
[Anon (Dham)]
|
13305
|
Character is ruined by not looking back over our pasts, since the future rests on the past
[Seneca]
|
13554
|
True greatness is never allowing events to disturb you
[Seneca]
|
23324
|
In the Discourses choice [prohairesis] defines our character and behaviour
[Epictetus, by Frede,M]
|
20480
|
There is not much point in only becoming good near the end of your life
[Montaigne]
|
20957
|
We don't choose our characters, yet we still claim credit for the actions our characters perform
[Schelling]
|
21484
|
A man's character can be learned from a single characteristic action
[Schopenhauer]
|
24126
|
We contain multitudes of characters, which can brought into the open
[Nietzsche]
|
7191
|
What does not kill us makes us stronger
[Nietzsche]
|
22871
|
The good people are those who improve; the bad are those who deteriorate
[Dewey]
|
23896
|
We see our character as a restricting limit, but also as an unshakable support
[Weil]
|
23893
|
We don't see character in a single moment, but only over a period of time
[Weil]
|
23894
|
The concept of character is at the centre of morality
[Weil]
|
23895
|
We modify our character by placing ourselves in situations, or by attending to what seems trivial
[Weil]
|
20764
|
In becoming what we want to be we create what we think man ought to be
[Sartre]
|
8070
|
It would be better to point to failings of character, than to moral wrongness of actions
[Anscombe]
|
22373
|
People can act out of vanity without being vain, or even vain about this kind of thing
[Foot]
|
22495
|
Someone is a good person because of their rational will, not their body or memory
[Foot]
|
24010
|
An admirable human being should have certain kinds of emotional responses
[Williams,B]
|
23279
|
It is important that a person can change their character, and not just be successive 'selves'
[Williams,B]
|
23280
|
Kantians have an poor account of individuals, and insist on impartiality, because they ignore character
[Williams,B]
|
5123
|
Maybe there is no such thing as character, and the virtues and vices said to accompany it
[Harman]
|
5124
|
If a person's two acts of timidity have different explanations, they are not one character trait
[Harman]
|
5125
|
Virtue ethics might involve judgements about the virtues of actions, rather than character
[Harman]
|
8043
|
Characters are the masks worn by moral philosophies
[MacIntyre]
|
23099
|
It is said that if an agent is not autonomous then their evil actions don't reflect on their character
[Kekes]
|
24002
|
We over-estimate the role of character traits when explaining behaviour
[Goldie]
|
24004
|
Psychologists suggest we are muddled about traits, and maybe they should be abandoned
[Goldie]
|
24003
|
Character traits are both possession of and lack of dispositions
[Goldie]
|