virtues
Aquinas thinks we are creatures of habit, with our future choices
influenced not only by the good we perceive and the fuel of our
passion, but also by the history of choices we have made in the
past. These learned tendencies he calls dispositions.
We all cope with life in ways that flow not only from our nature
but from the choices we have already made: we tend to use familiar
and comfortable behaviors over and over again until they become
second nature. The more we choose a behavior (e.g., choose to
speak up or not, choose to be clueless or not, take that third
piece of candy or not), the more ingrained it becomes, and the
greater the odds that we will act that way again. So there are
certain patterns of choice that we can consciously form which
will affect our actions and thereby move us either closer to that
delightful state of self-awareness we're after (e.g.,
"advance happiness") or further away from it (e.g.,
"block the road"). All voluntary action has to do with
exercising reason, so the key to forming right patterns of choice
is actually thinking about what we do: applying reason to the
infinite sea of options we can think of as being "good for
us."
For Aquinas, virtues are those patterns of choice that serve
to open us up to our own potential.
They are:
Faith
Hope
Charity
Prudence
Justice
Courage
Moderation
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