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Single Idea 13318

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / b. Living naturally ]

Full Idea

Nature does not give a man virtue; the process of becoming a good man is an art. ...Virtue only comes to a character which has been thoroughly schooled and trained and brought to a pitch of perfection by unremitting practice.

Gist of Idea

Nature doesn't give us virtue; we must unremittingly pursue it, as a training and an art

Source

Seneca the Younger (Letters from a Stoic [c.60], 090)

Book Ref

Seneca: 'Letters from a Stoic (Selections)', ed/tr. Campbell,Robin [Penguin 1969], p.176

A Reaction

This is an important gloss from a leading stoic on the slogan of 'live according to nature'. One might say that the natural life must be 'tracked' (as Philip Larkin says we track happiness). The natural life is, above all, the rational life, for stoics.

The 32 ideas from 'Letters from a Stoic'

13290 One joy of learning is making teaching possible [Seneca]
13293 What philosophy offers humanity is guidance [Seneca]
13292 Selfishness does not produce happiness; to live for yourself, live for others [Seneca]
13294 We know death, which is like before birth; ceasing to be and never beginning are the same [Seneca]
13295 Wise people escape necessity by willing it [Seneca]
13297 To the four causes Plato adds a fifth, the idea which guided the event [Seneca]
13299 Living is nothing wonderful; what matters is to die well [Seneca]
13300 It is as silly to lament ceasing to be as to lament not having lived in the remote past [Seneca]
13301 We are scared of death - except when we are immersed in pleasure! [Seneca]
13298 Suicide may be appropriate even when it is not urgent, if there are few reasons against it [Seneca]
13302 Life is like a play - it is the quality that matters, not the length [Seneca]
13303 A man is as unhappy as he has convinced himself he is [Seneca]
13305 Character is ruined by not looking back over our pasts, since the future rests on the past [Seneca]
13312 Excessive curiosity is a form of intemperance [Seneca]
13308 It's no good winning lots of fights, if you are then conquered by your own temper [Seneca]
13311 Does time exist on its own? Did anything precede it? Did it pre-exist the cosmos? [Seneca]
13310 Wisdom does not lie in books, and unread people can also become wise [Seneca]
13307 If everything can be measured, try measuring the size of a man's soul [Seneca]
13309 That something is a necessary condition of something else doesn't mean it caused it [Seneca]
13313 Even philosophers have got bogged down in analysing tiny bits of language [Seneca]
13317 Philosophy aims at happiness [Seneca]
13315 To govern used to mean to serve, not to rule; rulers did not test their powers over those who bestowed it [Seneca]
13318 Nature doesn't give us virtue; we must unremittingly pursue it, as a training and an art [Seneca]
13319 If we control our own death, no one has power over us [Seneca]
13324 Living contrary to nature is like rowing against the stream [Seneca]
13320 Sometimes we have a duty not to commit suicide, for those we love [Seneca]
13321 Is anything sweeter than valuing yourself more when you find you are loved? [Seneca]
13322 Both teachers and pupils should aim at one thing - the improvement of the pupil [Seneca]
21399 Referring to a person, and speaking about him, are very different [Seneca]
22239 Humans acquired the concept of virtue from an analogy with bodily health and strength [Seneca, by Allen]
13323 The whole point of pleasure-seeking is novelty, and abandoning established ways [Seneca]
13325 Trouble in life comes from copying other people, which is following convention instead of reason [Seneca]