Knowra Virtue Virtue A virtue is a stable quality of character or conduct regarded as morally good. Virtues guide choices and actions toward forms of human flourishing or moral excellence.
Character : The relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions that distinguishes a person. Virtues are stable features of character, not isolated good deeds.
Aristotelian ethics : An ethical tradition that understands virtue as central to human flourishing and practical wisdom. It explains virtue through habituation, judgment, and a well-lived life.
Aristotle : An ancient Greek philosopher whose writings shaped Western philosophy, science, and ethics. His Nicomachean Ethics gives the most influential systematic account of virtue.
Deontology : An ethical approach that evaluates actions by duties, rules, or constraints. It asks what obligations require, rather than which character traits an action expresses.
Moral virtue : A stable disposition to choose and act in morally good ways. This names the specifically ethical kind of virtue.
Doctrine of the mean : Aristotle’s account that virtue often lies between excess and deficiency relative to a situation. It shows how practical judgment calibrates a virtue rather than following a fixed rule.
Plato : An ancient Greek philosopher whose dialogues explore knowledge, justice, and the good life. His account connects virtues to the order of the soul and the just society.
Consequentialism : An ethical approach that evaluates actions by the outcomes they produce. It locates moral assessment in consequences rather than virtuous character.
Habit : A learned tendency to respond or act in a recurring way. Repeated practice can make virtuous actions more reliable.
Practical wisdom : The capacity to deliberate well about what is good and appropriate in particular circumstances. It enables a virtuous person to choose fitting actions in changing situations.
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