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Full Idea
Our virtues are voluntary, because we ourselves are in a sense partly responsible for our dispositions.
Gist of Idea
We are partly responsible for our own dispositions and virtues
Source
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1114b21)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.126
A Reaction
This seems half way to what we would now call existentialism. See Aristotle's other comments on natural virtue. The opposing view is Heraclitus's remark that "character is fate".
| 4367 | Moral virtue is not natural, because its behaviour can be changed, unlike a falling stone [Aristotle] |
| 5223 | We are partly responsible for our own dispositions and virtues [Aristotle] |
| 4362 | Dispositions to virtue are born in us, but without intelligence they can be harmful [Aristotle] |
| 23353 | We have a natural sense of honour [Epictetus] |
| 4361 | Good animals can survive, breed, feel characteristic pleasure and pain, and contribute to the group [Hursthouse] |