Can virtue be taught. Can a virtue be taught? 2022-10-31

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Virtue is often defined as a moral excellence or a goodness of character. It is a quality that is highly valued and admired in individuals, and it is often associated with qualities such as honesty, kindness, compassion, and self-control. There is a common belief that virtue can be taught, and that it is an important aspect of education and personal development. In this essay, we will explore the question of whether virtue can be taught, and consider the different arguments for and against this idea.

One argument in favor of the idea that virtue can be taught is that virtue is not something that is innate or inherent in individuals, but rather something that is learned and developed over time. This view suggests that virtue is not something that people are born with, but rather something that they acquire through their experiences and interactions with others. According to this perspective, virtue is something that can be cultivated and nurtured through education and personal development, and it is something that can be learned and developed by anyone, regardless of their natural abilities or predispositions.

Another argument in favor of the idea that virtue can be taught is that virtue is an important aspect of personal character and well-being. Virtuous individuals are often more likely to lead happy and fulfilling lives, and they are also more likely to be respected and admired by others. As such, it is important for individuals to develop virtuous habits and practices, and this is something that can be achieved through education and personal development.

However, there are also arguments against the idea that virtue can be taught. Some people believe that virtue is something that is inherent in individuals, and that it is not something that can be learned or developed. According to this perspective, people are either virtuous or they are not, and there is little that can be done to change this.

Another argument against the idea that virtue can be taught is that virtue is a subjective concept, and that what is considered virtuous in one culture or society may not be considered virtuous in another. This suggests that there is no universal standard of virtue that can be taught or learned, and that people's ideas about virtue are shaped by their cultural and social context.

Overall, the question of whether virtue can be taught is a complex one, and there are good arguments on both sides. While it is certainly true that virtue is an important aspect of personal character and well-being, and that it can be cultivated and nurtured through education and personal development, it is also true that virtue is a subjective concept that is shaped by cultural and social context. As such, it may be difficult to say definitively whether virtue can be taught or not, but it is clear that virtue is an important aspect of personal development, and that it is something that is worth striving for.

Virtue: Can It Be Taught?

can virtue be taught

As the dialectic ensues, both of them find themselves arguing for the opposite side of which they started their debate. Only today it is not the fate of Greece but of the entire world that is at stake. Perrin is an author, consultant and speaker, who specializes in classical education. Habits are continually chosen paths. Then came to Rome the Greek philosophers, with much abstract talk of virtue.

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Can Virtue be Taught—Especially These Days?

can virtue be taught

Meno then begins the dialogue of differentiating the virtue of man and women, in an attempt to explain that virtue can indeed be taught. Why are they so substantial and why are they something that I insistently and relentlessly think of? If you have heard anyone talk at all about classical Christian education, you have certainly heard them say that classical Christian education is about the cultivation of wisdom and virtue. They maintained the virtues of reverence, seriousness, equitableness, firmness of purpose, tenacity, hard work, steadiness, frugality, unselfishness, self-restraint—and other virtues besides. But virtue in this land of ours seemingly never lay at a lower ebb. A habit is an action that is chosen over and over again. Most graduates of seminaries seem incapable today of discussing virtue, or particular virtues, with much historical or philosophical insight.


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Can Virtue Be Taught?

can virtue be taught

Against them are set the Seven Deadly Sins: pride, avarice, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. He wants to know the essence of virtue. Probably the days of the public schools and the boarding schools generally are numbered in Britain now. The rational part corresponds to the guardians in that it performs the executive function in a soul just as it does in a city. I heard of the slothful Asiatics, of the stupendous genius and mental activity of the Grecians, of the wars and wonderful virtue of the early Romans—of their subsequent degenerating—of the decline of that mighty empire, of chivalry, Christianity, and kings. Soon after Socrates and Kreeft climbed through the whole they were met by the next philosopher, Thrasymachus.

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SS #96: Can Virtue Be Taught?

can virtue be taught

To support his argument, Socrates references the slaveholder and slave that have gathered before Meno and himself. People want to be wealthy, famous, and powerful only because these things, they believe, will lead them to happiness. Which of the following is the highest virtue? He asks Socrates on several occasions for answers, what do you say colour is? Education does not save, so it will not make one morally righteous before God — but our works never do that. Socrates asks Meno for a general definition of virtue, since as Socrates points out, we cannot figure out if virtue can be taught if we do not have a clear idea what it is. Published Humanitas, Volume VII, No. For the moment, we must not look to institutional Christianity for rousing moral virtue; as Simone Weil suggests in the passage I quoted earlier, the Christian moral tradition lies dormant at best in modern hearts; if it is to come alive again, probably it must be revivified by some outer power.

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Can Virtue Be Taught

can virtue be taught

As he argues, Socrates begins to point out this universality of virtue, and how it might be considered an inherent value all humans possess, irrespective of their status or place in society. Whereas Protagoras 's situation is reversed, as he begins his argument by defending the teachability of virtue and ends up questioning… Knowledge, Knowledge And Virtue In Plato's Meno Why Plato does not explicitly show the difference between knowledge and wisdom is unclear, as both are relevant to virtue, for one can be virtuous without certain knowledge but it seems it would be necessary have wisdom. He argues that our thinking, which is the foundation for our virtues, stems from practice and not from nature. According to Aristotle, happiness consists in achieving, through the course of a whole lifetime, all the goods — health, wealth, knowledge, friends, etc. What is the relation between virtue and emotions? Aristotle distinguishes between two kinds of virtue: moral virtue and intellectual virtue Aristotle says that moral virtues are not innate, but that they are acquired by developing the habit of exercising them.

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The Meno asks the question what is virtue and can it be taught Essay on Socrates

can virtue be taught

We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. Virtues are developed through learning and through practice. He made pioneering contributions to all fields of philosophy and science, he invented the field of formal logic, and he identified the various scientific disciplines and explored their relationships to each other. Anytus participated in Socrates and Meno conversation about virtue. The video was created as a humanities lecture for students at School of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri.


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Can Virtue Be Taught Aristotle?

can virtue be taught

Therefore, you can inquire into something you do not know of, if you know the question you wish to ask. There is no age or gender- dependent scale on which virtue is measured, according to Socrates. As the ancient philosopher Aristotle suggested, a person can improve his or her character by practicing self-discipline, while a good character can be corrupted by repeated self-indulgence. We have done just that in this Republic, since the Second World War. Some people fancy that if only schools would turn their attention systematically and earnestly to this problem, relief soon would follow. Is it important that our students love their subjects? With these current standpoints on virtue, they ensue into figuring out good and bad, pleasure and pain.

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Can Virtue Be Taught? Free Essay Example

can virtue be taught

Truth is the highest virtue, but higher still is truthful living. I hope everyone in the world feels this way. Although the high old Roman virtue was not altogether extinguished until the final collapse of Romanitas before the barbarian wanderers, by the time of Nero and Seneca there had come to exist, side by side, a fashionable array of ethical teachings, derived from Greek sources—and a general decay of public and private morals, from the highest social classes to the lowest. To these classical virtues, Saint Paul added the theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. Who said virtue is sufficient for happiness? The big difference Platos Meno Essay Meno asking what virtue is and whether it could be taught. Menos conversation with Socrates is an attempt to know exactly what virtue means and how it can be defined to come to the decision of whether or not it can in fact be taught to others. In Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle answers the question in a way I better understand.

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Can Virtue Be Taught?

can virtue be taught

The full significance of this fact can be fruitfully illustrated through an example of moral miseducation, viz. Ancestral ways diminished in power; ethical speculation spread. Socrates claims that if virtue is a kind of knowledge, then it can be learned. But the long history of those schools suggests that intellectual virtue was better imparted in England than in Greece. However, Socrates, through his refutations of Menos questions and arguments, does not justify his conclusion that it cannot be taught.

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Plato’s Views On Virtue And Whether It Can Be Taught: [Essay Example], 700 words GradesFixer

can virtue be taught

Rouner's essay, which examines three models of how to teach virtue. Placebo Domino in regione vivorum? And from this question, you would follow whatever steps are necessary to get the answer, and end up knowing which you did not previously know. According to Aristotle, happiness is an activity, not a state. They form a virtue theory of ethics. Through a conversation with Antyos, whereby Socrates points out that the fine men of the region are known to pay others in the teachings of their sons in things which are good, it is established that neither the Sophists nor well bred, fine gentleman are teachers of virtue.

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