January 18, 2020

Anthony P. Cannizzaro, Ph.D., Brian T. Engelland, Ph.D., and Maximillian B. Torres, J.D., Ph.D.

Virtue Ethics: A Primer

Virtue is derived from the Latin root vir, meaning man. At its core, it means the perfection of man – moral excellence. Virtue Ethics is a
branch to moral philosophy founded in the work of Aristotle best described as a systematic approach to achieving moral excellence. In the
Aristotelian tradition, virtue is “a habit or custom”1. That is, one achieves moral excellence and becomes the best version of one’s self by
practicing virtue.

What does it mean to “practice virtue”? In essence, virtue ethics requires one to deliberate on choosing what is right, and to continually
practice doing so. Doing what is right is often difficult. One develops virtues – good moral habits – by practicing doing right and avoid
doing wrong (i.e., vices) - this makes good decisions easier over time2.
Virtue ethics traditionally focuses on four Cardinal Virtues necessary for achieving moral excellence and leading a virtuous life. These are
Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. Chief among these is Prudence.

Prudence
Prudence – often called “practical wisdom” – is “excellence in reasoning about action (choice)” including the “evaluation of options, the
choice of practical goals, and our final decision about what to do”.3 For the business person, it “consists of a knack for distinguishing ends
from means together with an ability to be attentive to the nature of things”4. In the words of Aristotle, you are prudent if you “act in such a
way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never simply
as a means”5.
Prudence is the mold and mother of the other cardinal virtues—justice, fortitude and temperance. It is first among the cardinal virtues
because it is intrinsically tied to Being (“reality”), which precedes Truth (the intellect’s correspondence with reality), which in turn precedes
Good (our will’s attraction to reality).
Prudence thus makes an action good; It is part and parcel of the definition of a good act. Further, all virtue is necessarily prudent. Prudence
is the cause of the other virtues being virtues at all. It is the measure of the other virtues, and it “informs the other virtues”.
It is important to note that virtues are not about denying ourselves of things, but finding a balance between extremes; Aristotle called this
balance the “golden mean”. Too much of a virtue is called an excess; Too little a defect.
An excess of prudence is cunning (its root cause is covetousness); A defect of prudence is Indecisiveness.

Justice
Justice - sometimes referred to as fairness – is what we owe to other people. It is “a habit, whereby a person renders to each one his due
with constant and perpetual will”.6 A right (one’s due), therefore, precedes justice. One’s right is something that belongs to a person. Justice
concerns what is due to a distinct “other” (it thus differs from love, which concerns those closer).

The distinguishing mark of justice is some debt is to be paid; a duty. The most basic obligations, rights and duties are determined by natural
law. These are the right to life and the right to be part of a society. For example, we have a duty to others not to deprive them of their

1 Nicomachean Ethics, Book II.

2 While developed thousands of years before our contemporary understanding of the human mind, Aristotle’s notion of excellence growing
easier with practice is strongly supported in modern neuroscience. Research shows taking specific actions is more taxing on our minds than
acting out of instinct. Repetition trains the brain to release dopamine to reward those behaviors. Teaching yourself to feel good about
doing good makes right action less mentally taxing.
3
Yuengert, A. 2019. Varieties of Virtue in Economics. Presented at Eudaimonia Institute Conference, “Culture, Religion, and Eudaimonia”.
Wake Forest University.
4
Engelland, B. 2017. Force for Good: The Catholic Guide to Business Integrity. Sophia Institute Press
5
Aristotle, 1953
6
Engelland
lives. We owe others truth and basic human decency as members of a shared society. Moreover, others owe these things to us. I have a
right to protect my own life, for example. In business, the greatest challenge to being just “is controlling our own tendencies to seek
advantage at the expense of others”.7 The virtue of justice thus “jolts the businessperson” out of single-minded focus on one’s own
desires.8 A just manager thus manages for the good of all the firm’s stakeholders – employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders.

Justice orders the person both in relation to oneself, and in the life of people collectively. There are three basic types of justice:
Commutative, Distributive, and Legal. Commutative justice represents what one individual in a society owes to another individual. Legal
justice concerns what an individual owes to the whole of society, and distributive justice concerns what society owes to the individual.

As Justice is relational, Aristotle identifies a defect of justice as committing injustice, while an excess of justice is suffering injustice.

Fortitude
Fortitude is synonymous with courage and bravery. It presupposes vulnerability because to be brave means to be able to suffer injury. In
business, managers are often reluctant to stand on principle for fear of criticism or harm to one’s reputation.9 The brave person doesn’t
intentionally seek out harm but suffers it for the sake of realizing the good.

Prudence (knowledge of the good) and justice (for the sake of the good) precede fortitude. Without them there is no fortitude. Prudence
informs fortitude through justice. Without a just cause there is no fortitude, as fortitude exists to remove obstacles to justice. Fortitude thus
preserves a person from declining the good. It presupposes a fear of evil; yet, it won’t allow fear to force the person into evil, or allow it to
keep the person from realization of the good.

Fortitude has two acts: endurance and attack. The primary act is endurance, which entails patience. The secondary act is Attack, which entails
confidence, optimism, and just wrath (Aristotle said that a man may be angry, but that anger must be ruled by reason; Fortitude is
intolerant towards evil because a virtuous man is angered by wrongdoing; the brave man does not hesitate to "pounce upon" evil and to bar
its way, if this can reasonably be done).

A defect of fortitude is cowardice; An excess of fortitude is rashness (only fools rush in where angels fear to tread).

Temperance
Temperance focuses the person on himself or herself. This focus is selfless, as opposed to selfish; its goal is self-preservation. Temperance
preserves a person’s inner order. Its purpose is to dispose various parts into one, unified and ordered whole, which gives one a serenity of
spirit.

The part of a person’s essence most likely to disturb this inner order (bringing unrest and unhappiness) is one’s appetite for things that are
pleasurable. Some pleasures are reasonable, while some are contrary to reason and induce us towards selfishness. The same drive that
makes many business people effective at what they do is often also their greatest source of disorder and unrest: a desire to win – to make
the sale, get promoted, have prestigious titles, dine at fancy restaurants, and otherwise be “perceived to be among the elite at what they
do”.10
Temperance is the virtue of self-control that helps us to be driven, without driving us to vice. It is realized through chastity, continence,
studiousness, humility, gentleness, mildness, and attention to detail. Forms of intemperance include unchastity, incontinence, pride, anger,
and excessive curiosity.

By developing the virtue of temperance, we mentally and physically prepare ourselves to exercise the other virtues. For example, a
gluttonous man is ill prepared to exercise fortitude. Unchastity falsifies and corrupts prudence (by reducing things to what a person wants
for him- or herself, not for what they are).

A defect of temperance is insensibility (an inability to recognize deficiency); An excess of temperance is self-indulgence.

7
Engelland
8
Ibid
9
Ibid
10
Ibid