Virtue in the Community

Here is a quick run down of virtue:

The word that Aristotle uses for virtue is arête. If this were literally translated, it would mean excellence. Virtue is the way in which man acquires eudaimonia. Or, it is this characteristic of excellence that allows man to live a flourishing life. There are two types of virtue according to Aristotle, intellectual and moral. How do we attain the characteristics of virtue? In this case, the outworn phrase “practice makes perfect” actually fits. It is through habituation, repetitive actions, which makes it part of who you are and perfect the virtue to its fullest capacity. You know you have acquired the virtue you are practicing when you take pleasure in doing it. Because when you take pleasure in it, it is a sign that it is natural to your way of acting. The thing to be careful of, though, is that vice works the same way. You can acquire a vice by habituation of those actions, and worse, you’ll even begin to take pleasure in doing them.

So how do we know what actions to be putting into practice? What determines the virtues we should be aiming for? Or in other words, what is excellent? Aristotle gives part of the answer, imitation. We should look at people who have these virtues that we want and do the actions they do. Makes sense, but how did they know what was virtuous? This is way the community is essential to being a virtuous person. It is society that determines appropriate habituation. It is the society that dictates by its laws and social expectations how a man should act. The man who does these actions best and most consistanlty has virtue by the standard of that community.