The Principal Moral Virtues—Ethics 3–5

This lecture is devoted to exploring some of the most intriguing or perplexing aspects of the moral virtues. Aristotle maintains that there are eleven—and only eleven!—moral virtues, and we will begin by simply enumerating them, in the order in which Aristotle lists them, together with their corresponding vices. Our focus then shifts to three particular virtues: courage, magnanimity, and justice. Courage is the first moral virtue Aristotle treats, but it proves not to be the most impressive one: magnanimity, or “greatness of soul,” and Justice both lay claim to that title, and each represents the peak of the tendencies inherent in moral virtue or in the concern for moral virtue: the greatness of one’s own soul or its full development, and the correct dedication to the good of others, even at great cost to oneself.

English
  • Runtime 30 minutes
  • Production Company The Great Courses
  • Created May 20, 2022 by
    shunsuke218
  • Modified May 20, 2022 by
    shunsuke218