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# Virtue (Aquinas 101)
# https://www.youtube.com/watch/_u3EwK4sy-E

00:00:00.070 There are so many things that aregood in this world, that raise up our
passions
00:00:04.540 of joy and delight and love.
00:00:07.820 There are also a lot of things that we'reafraid of that cause us fear
or anger.
00:00:15.070 It's because there are so many things, andfor each of us, many of
these things are different.
00:00:20.289 It's because we are malleable that for St.Thomas we can grow in habit
and disposition.
00:00:26.710 That each of us can grow in virtue and evenvice.
00:00:41.480 St. Thomas follows St. Augustine who saysthat virtue is a good quality
of the mind
00:00:48.039 by which we live righteously of which no onecan make bad use, which
God works in us and
00:00:54.820 without us.
00:00:56.950 Virtue lives in the human soul, so to speak.
00:00:59.519 It lives in the mind and in the will, in ourthinking and in our
choosing.
00:01:04.790 But there's also a virtue in our passionsbecause our passions, the
animal part of us--
00:01:09.990 our emotions, our loves, our joys, our fears,our angers--
00:01:14.640 even these are part of the humanperson, a part of us.
00:01:18.920 They participate in our reason.
00:01:22.110 Virtue: it confers on us when we have it notonly the ability to think
rightly about what
00:01:29.120 we should do, but actually to do it.
00:01:32.340 It's one thing to know the right thing todo.
00:01:35.060 It's another thing to do it and to do it well.
00:01:38.329 That's what virtue gives.
00:01:39.790 St. Thomas says that there are intellectualvirtues and there are moral
virtues.
00:01:45.110 For St. Thomas moral virtue is what we mostneed in this life.
00:01:51.399 Moral virtue disposes us to act well and itrequires more than simply
knowledge.
00:01:57.530 It requires more than simply knowing whatthe right thing and the good
thing to do is.
00:02:02.760 Because for instance, we have to have ourpassions in line.
00:02:06.619 Our passions have to come along.
00:02:08.860 If we know the right thing to do, but we'rescared to do it, we won't
do it.
00:02:12.810 If we know the right thing to do, and we do it with excessive anger,
we won't do it morally.
00:02:20.450 Moral virtue moderates our passions, moderatesour passions so that we
can act according
00:02:26.610 to reason for the true good.
00:02:29.580 Moral virtue doesn't squelch our passion.
00:02:31.970 It doesn't subdue our passion or destroy ourpassion.
00:02:35.590 St. Thomas is very much not a Stoic.
00:02:39.650 Passions are good for St. Thomas.
00:02:41.770 It's important that we feel and feel deeply.
00:02:45.370 In fact, for St. Thomas, the more virtuousa person is, the more they
feel and the more
00:02:51.191 they feel rightly because the virtuous personis not afraid of his or
her feelings.
00:02:57.420 She's not afraid that her feelings are goingto carry her off and make
her do things that
00:03:01.810 she would rather not do.
00:03:03.510 The virtuous person knows the right thingto do, does it, does it with
joy, and does it with
00:03:09.260 feeling and conviction.
00:03:10.780 The more perfect virtue is in factthe more passionate the person
becomes.
00:03:16.510 For St. Thomas, there are four principle moralvirtues which he borrows
from Cicero.
00:03:22.420 Prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude. (We call it courage.)
00:03:28.220 He says that justice is the disposition, thewill to give others what
is their do, what
00:03:33.330 is coming to them.
00:03:34.990 And that's true whether we're talking abouta criminal getting his just
deserts or giving
00:03:40.310 our parents what is their due because theybrought us into existence.
00:03:44.320 They gave us life and raised us.
00:03:46.360 To give them the respect that is their due.
00:03:49.140 Fortitude is the virtue that resolves to achievea good, difficult to
obtain and prevents us
00:03:56.460 from doing what is unreasonable to avoid evil.
00:03:59.790 Think of courage as that virtue which youneed to get the good things
in your life.
00:04:04.680 The courage it takes for a man to ask a womanto marry him, the courage
it takes for a soldier
00:04:11.020 to jump into a foxhole, the courage it takesto get a college degree or
to raise a child
00:04:17.350 to even believe that you can raise a child.
00:04:20.769 All of this is the virtue of courage.
00:04:22.560 The virtue of courage keeps usfrom shrinking away against great
difficulty,
00:04:29.280 but it also keeps us from a certain audacitythat would rush in, a
certain foolishness.
00:04:36.190 The virtue of courage is right in the middle.
00:04:39.320 It's right between being a coward on one sideor being a fool on the
other.
00:04:44.820 It's a daily virtue.
00:04:45.910 It's a virtue that we all need.
00:04:47.120 It's not just for the soldier on the battlefield,it's for the mother
and the father.
00:04:51.900 It's for the student, it's for the child.
00:04:54.440 It's for all of us who interact with eachother on a daily basis.
00:04:58.630 All of us who are pursuing such good thingsin our lives.
00:05:01.920 Temperance is also a virtue thatwe need.
00:05:05.340 Because temperance moderates all of thosesense pleasures that we
experience.
00:05:10.900 Pleasures of the flesh, pleasures of food,pleasures of drink, all of
which can be good
00:05:16.180 and indeed holy when experienced in accordwith reason.
00:05:21.490 The virtue of temperance is in the middlebetween intemperance, which
is simply a pursuit
00:05:26.430 of one pleasure after another, and insensibility,which is a sort of
frigidity or an unwillingness
00:05:34.090 to experience pleasure.
00:05:35.860 The virtue of prudence is the mostimportant moral virtue.
00:05:40.430 It's the charioteer of virtue.
00:05:43.310 It directs all the virtues.
00:05:46.340 Prudence, St. Thomas says, is right reason aboutthings to be done.
00:05:51.780 It's prudence that determines what the courageousthing to do in this
moment is.
00:05:57.400 It's prudence that determines what the temperatething to do and to
enjoy in this moment is.
00:06:04.870 It's prudence that says what the just thingto do in this moment is.
00:06:10.610 It's prudence that tells all the virtues howto be themselves.
00:06:14.060 How do we become prudent?
00:06:16.040 Well, for St. Thomas,
00:06:18.190 that's one of the points of the moral life.
00:06:20.750 We become prudent by learning from our elders,from those who have
lived life longer than
00:06:25.090 us, who have had more time to make mistakesand to learn from their
mistakes.
00:06:29.760 And so more time to grow in prudence.
00:06:32.830 We become prudent by experience, by living life,by being self-
reflective, by making choices
00:06:40.110 and seeing how they've turned out and lookingback and trying to figure
out how we could've
00:06:46.010 done that differently or how it might havegone better.
00:06:48.810 How I could have worded what I needed to sayin a better way.
00:06:52.460 We become prudent and moral by just beingeducated and taking counsel
with those who
00:06:58.460 we know are prudent, those who we have inour lives, who we trust to
make good moral
00:07:04.450 decisions.
00:07:05.670 The moral life is not something we engagealone.
00:07:08.390 It's something we engage in community withthose who raise us, those
with whom we live,
00:07:13.760 our friends, those we trust and respect.
00:07:19.240 For readings, podcasts, and more videos like this, go to
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00:07:28.920 And don't forget to like and share with your friends, because it
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