MM#358--Foundations in Flourishing, pt.5 - The Four Cardinal Virtues...But Why?

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:07.612 --> 00:00:20.807
Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.

00:00:20.807 --> 00:00:24.849
Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

00:00:34.060 --> 00:00:44.710
Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute and to another installment in our series called the Foundations of Flourishing, where we are unpacking how to create a flourishing life for ourselves, our friends and our family.

00:00:44.710 --> 00:00:53.709
Now, in our last Mojo Minute, we talked about why virtue is needed, why virtue is far more effective than values.

00:00:53.709 --> 00:00:55.295
If you missed that episode, be sure to check it out.

00:00:55.295 --> 00:01:21.174
But today we want to kick off our discussion on what human history has told itself for the last 3,000 years, roughly, at least for the last 2,500 years, specifically, that there is such a thing as human nature, and human nature has specific acts and habits that we routinely do and carry out.

00:01:21.174 --> 00:01:23.584
So what are we talking about?

00:01:23.584 --> 00:01:24.484
Well, it's these.

00:01:24.484 --> 00:01:28.673
It is the four cardinal virtues.

00:01:28.673 --> 00:01:38.302
They are prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.

00:01:38.302 --> 00:01:40.447
These virtues have a rich history dating back to the ancient Greek philosophies.

00:01:40.447 --> 00:01:44.754
Now let's talk a little bit about the history first.

00:01:44.754 --> 00:01:57.007
This concept of four cardinal virtues originated with Plato, who discussed them in his work the Republic, and they were further developed by other Greek philosophers like Aristotle.

00:01:57.007 --> 00:02:10.967
Now, the term cardinal comes from the Latin word cardo, meaning hinge, as these virtues were considered the hinges upon which all the other virtues and moral character are built.

00:02:10.967 --> 00:02:25.417
While it's not explicitly defined in the Bible, these virtues are exemplified throughout Scripture in the actions and teachings of many of the biblical figures we read about Now.

00:02:25.417 --> 00:02:36.306
Early Christian leaders and theologians adopted these virtues from Greek philosophy and they incorporated them into Christian ethics and moral theology.

00:02:36.306 --> 00:02:40.401
Now each of the cardinal virtues represents a key aspect of the moral character.

00:02:40.401 --> 00:02:50.343
First, prudence, which is the ability to discern the appropriate course of action in given circumstances.

00:02:50.343 --> 00:02:55.574
Justice it encompasses righteous conduct.

00:02:55.574 --> 00:02:59.704
Also fairness, honesty and integrity.

00:02:59.704 --> 00:03:07.096
Now, fortitude represents the emotional strength and courage and resilience in the face of adversity.

00:03:07.096 --> 00:03:20.656
And temperance refers to self-control, mastery, moderation and restraint over the human soul and the human body's desires and impulses.

00:03:20.656 --> 00:03:28.664
Now, these virtues are considered fundamental to living a virtuous life and form the basis of virtue ethics.

00:03:28.664 --> 00:03:31.890
That's kind of a new term, virtue ethics.

00:03:31.890 --> 00:03:33.313
Let's not be confused by that.

00:03:33.313 --> 00:03:40.312
In the Christian tradition they complement the three theological virtues of faith, hope and love.

00:03:40.312 --> 00:03:45.947
Now we'll talk about these virtues in a later podcast, but for now let's stay on the four cardinal virtues.

00:03:45.947 --> 00:03:49.812
Again, they are prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.

00:03:49.812 --> 00:04:02.004
In fact, let's grab our first pull quote from our book of the day and we're going to stay with Back to Virtue by Peter Kreeft and let's go to the book.

00:04:04.387 --> 00:04:20.829
The four cardinal virtues of justice, wisdom, which we can also call prudence, courage, sometimes called fortitude and moderation, sometimes called self-control or temperance, come not just from Plato or Greek philosophy.

00:04:20.829 --> 00:04:23.086
You will find them in scripture.

00:04:23.086 --> 00:04:28.182
They are knowable by human nature, which God designed, not Plato.

00:04:28.182 --> 00:04:37.742
Now, plato first formulated them, but he did for virtue only what Newton did for motion.

00:04:37.742 --> 00:04:42.889
He discovered and tabulated its own inherent foundational laws.

00:04:42.889 --> 00:04:49.247
These four are called cardinal virtues for the Latin word for hinge, which we just learned about.

00:04:49.247 --> 00:04:51.776
All other virtues hinge on these four.

00:04:51.776 --> 00:05:01.425
That includes lesser virtues, which are the corollaries of these, and also greater virtues, the three theological virtues, which are the flower of these.

00:05:02.468 --> 00:05:06.435
These cardinal virtues are not the only virtues, or even the highest ones.

00:05:06.435 --> 00:05:12.028
As Einstein surpassed Newton, jesus most certainly surpassed Plato.

00:05:12.028 --> 00:05:28.002
But just as Einstein did not contradict Newton but included him, presupposed him and built on him, so Jesus' supernatural virtues do not contradict Plato's natural virtues, but presupposes them.

00:05:28.002 --> 00:05:37.055
Plato also gives us virtues, grammar, and Jesus gives us virtues poetry.

00:05:37.055 --> 00:05:40.983
And let's pause real quick there.

00:05:40.983 --> 00:05:43.247
Is that not just great writing?

00:05:43.247 --> 00:05:51.988
I mean, kreeft really nails it with that paragraph when he says Plato gives us virtues grammar.

00:05:51.988 --> 00:05:54.192
Jesus gives us virtues.

00:05:54.192 --> 00:05:56.487
Poetry that's just great stuff.

00:05:56.487 --> 00:06:14.281
You know, even though we're learning and taking in the four cardinal virtues, the more I have read over the last 15 years, the more I can just appreciate good, solid writing, and Kreef gives us that time and time again in this book.

00:06:14.281 --> 00:06:15.865
It's just great stuff.

00:06:17.208 --> 00:06:29.654
Now we're going to go back to the book and we're going to make a subtle change here, because normally we would dive in and go through each of the four cardinal virtues.

00:06:29.654 --> 00:06:31.660
I don't want to do that today.

00:06:31.660 --> 00:06:49.624
We might do it later, but I don't think many of you or most of you probably know about the four cardinal virtues for the most part, but most of you probably don't know how they came about and what the why behind that is.

00:06:49.624 --> 00:06:56.504
I think that's a much more substantive and a much more called for argument that we have to win.

00:06:56.504 --> 00:07:00.471
Why do we want to study these four cardinal virtues?

00:07:00.471 --> 00:07:01.581
How do we get here?

00:07:01.581 --> 00:07:16.564
Instead of just assuming or presupposing that we need to know these four cardinal virtues, most students who have never learned this, who have never had a classical education I didn't.

00:07:16.564 --> 00:07:26.132
I was very intrigued more by the why we need these cardinal virtues versus the how or what they actually are.

00:07:26.132 --> 00:07:32.552
So let's go to the book, because Peter Kreef knocks us out of the park and it's a great story.

00:07:32.552 --> 00:07:33.574
Let's go to the book.

00:07:37.024 --> 00:07:52.490
During the silly sixties, I was teaching a course in ethics at Boston college to a class of idealistic, impatient and anti-historical freshmen whose vision of history was the dark ages and then us.

00:07:52.490 --> 00:08:07.880
They were eager to save the world, design a new society and liberate themselves and everyone else, especially those who did not want to be liberated from the terrible, tyrannical past and to create a brave new world for the bright future.

00:08:07.880 --> 00:08:16.283
So my assigned reading list, composed of Plato, aristotle, augustine and Aquinas, hardly turned them on.

00:08:16.283 --> 00:08:25.827
They protested we know so much more than those people in the past did and were not impressed with my comeback from TS Eliot.

00:08:25.827 --> 00:08:29.661
Yes, and they are that which we know.

00:08:29.661 --> 00:08:49.791
So they asked me whether we could do something more relevant, something more experimental, something like what other classes were doing designing their own course instead of being quote enslaved to the hoary past and to the imposed values of the teacher.

00:08:49.791 --> 00:08:53.688
I decided to go along with their scheme for a trial run.

00:08:53.688 --> 00:09:02.524
I said I'd play Socrates with them and together we'd try to design a new ethic for a new society from scratch.

00:09:02.524 --> 00:09:07.822
I would only be their Socratic questioner, not their lecturer.

00:09:07.822 --> 00:09:10.096
They were thrilled.

00:09:13.110 --> 00:09:15.856
Now, if these students had any sense to them.

00:09:15.856 --> 00:09:25.803
If they had just read their history, just a fragment of their history, even a tiny morsel of history, and understood Socrates, they would have known.

00:09:25.803 --> 00:09:32.541
Once Professor Kreeft mentioned he would be wait, what did he call himself?

00:09:32.541 --> 00:09:34.004
Oh, here it is.

00:09:34.004 --> 00:09:35.831
He called himself.

00:09:35.831 --> 00:09:43.345
I'll play Socrates with them and together we design a new ethic for a new society from scratch.

00:09:43.345 --> 00:09:45.595
And here's the kicker.

00:09:45.595 --> 00:09:53.299
For those students, kreef says I would only be their Socratic questioner, not their lecturer.

00:09:53.299 --> 00:09:57.125
Got them.

00:09:57.125 --> 00:10:20.758
Hey, let's face it, we were all young and dumb once too, but at least they could have read some history and know who and what Socrates was and did In fact know why he's important, because his questions, those Socratic questions, are going to be the student's downfall.

00:10:20.758 --> 00:10:22.995
But let's stay with the story.

00:10:22.995 --> 00:10:24.078
Back to the book.

00:10:26.030 --> 00:10:36.562
Off and running, we went throwing our books temporarily into the ragbag or dustbin of history and consulting only our precious creativity.

00:10:36.562 --> 00:10:39.918
Now, what values do we want in this new society?

00:10:39.918 --> 00:10:46.160
First of all, do we want a double standard, a different ethic for society and for individuals?

00:10:46.160 --> 00:10:54.850
No, no, that was the hypocrisy of the past and the present establishments, no double standard, all right, all right.

00:10:54.850 --> 00:10:57.375
Next, what does society need?

00:10:57.375 --> 00:11:08.383
It needs harmony, cooperation, togetherness, working as one, each doing the thing he can do best for the others, for the community, doing your own thing and communalism at once.

00:11:08.383 --> 00:11:15.764
That sounds like a very progressive notion of justice, better than the old legalistic one.

00:11:15.764 --> 00:11:19.539
In fact, it sounds like music which they loved very much.

00:11:19.539 --> 00:11:22.318
True justice is social music, harmony.

00:11:22.318 --> 00:11:24.957
What an enlightened idea.

00:11:26.890 --> 00:11:32.038
And on and on it went from the qualities of a leader should have to the values of.

00:11:32.038 --> 00:11:33.059
Oh, the leaders.

00:11:33.059 --> 00:11:36.404
Are the values, that the big one, the values.

00:11:36.404 --> 00:11:37.475
Remember the values.

00:11:37.475 --> 00:11:40.077
Then it moved on to heroism.

00:11:40.077 --> 00:11:41.936
Do we value that?

00:11:41.936 --> 00:11:43.972
Of course we do, they shouted.

00:11:43.972 --> 00:11:44.996
And on and on it went.

00:11:44.996 --> 00:11:47.235
They talked about greed.

00:11:47.235 --> 00:11:49.096
Is that a virtue or a value?

00:11:49.096 --> 00:11:49.979
Not a virtue.

00:11:49.979 --> 00:11:51.134
Capitalism is bad.

00:11:51.134 --> 00:11:52.672
It's bad, it's even.

00:11:52.672 --> 00:11:53.615
It's worse than bad.

00:11:53.615 --> 00:11:54.057
It's wicked.

00:11:54.057 --> 00:12:03.131
We need to practice Buddha's detachment or Thoreau's peace with nature, and that will remove all the greed.

00:12:03.131 --> 00:12:04.654
They created the new economy.

00:12:04.654 --> 00:12:06.480
They created a new psychology.

00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:08.730
In fact, they created a whole new society.

00:12:08.730 --> 00:12:11.052
They even talked about happiness.

00:12:11.052 --> 00:12:12.874
They wanted everyone to be happy.

00:12:13.953 --> 00:12:15.740
Actually, let's Pick up the story there.

00:12:15.740 --> 00:12:17.642
That's as good a place as any.

00:12:17.642 --> 00:12:27.860
Perhaps we should write all this up, put it down in our new discoveries, in a book you know for the world, a book for a new age.

00:12:27.860 --> 00:12:33.804
How exciting, unless it may have been done before.

00:12:33.804 --> 00:12:36.764
How would we know whether it has or not?

00:12:36.764 --> 00:12:40.461
You in fact scorned the past.

00:12:40.461 --> 00:12:43.775
Are you quite sure what it is you've scorned?

00:12:43.775 --> 00:12:48.365
Let's just take one sample, drilling from the soil of the past.

00:12:48.365 --> 00:12:56.182
Let's look at the first and oldest philosophical, ethic and politic in our civilization Plato's Republic.

00:12:56.182 --> 00:13:03.296
Let's test old Plato by our new wisdom and see how he scores Might.

00:13:03.296 --> 00:13:06.085
He have anticipated any of our ideas.

00:13:06.085 --> 00:13:10.946
The reader who has read the Republic can anticipate the next step.

00:13:12.696 --> 00:13:49.501
The students were truly amazed to find all eight of the ideas they had just discovered were precisely the main points of this bewhiskered old classic no double standard, justice as harmony, wisdom as understanding, courage as non-physical Moderation versus materialism, the fit between the three virtues and the three parts of the soul, the fact that justice leads to happiness for individuals in society, the justice is more profitable than injustice, and overall, the use of rational discovery and persuasion rather than force.

00:13:49.501 --> 00:14:04.655
After reading all this in the Republic, they wanted to read more old stuff, old stuff.

00:14:04.655 --> 00:14:09.326
So we read Plato's, gregorios, aristotle's Neomachian Ethics, augustine's Confessions and even parts of Aquinas' Summa Theologia.

00:14:09.326 --> 00:14:17.028
They found Aquinas' treatise on happiness, the Summa, parts one and two, question two on those things in which happiness consists.

00:14:17.028 --> 00:14:36.566
Those things in which happiness consists a particular relevant reading, for they could classify all their friends and all their favorite characters in fiction as pursuing one or another of the candidates for happiness that Aquinas listed, explored and refuted Ah, you see folks.

00:14:36.566 --> 00:14:42.677
And refuted, ah, you see folks.

00:14:42.677 --> 00:14:57.510
You see, that's why we read the classics and why we have the humility to understand that, even though people came before us, they were not as dumb as most of your elite liberal and radical professors are telling you they are.

00:14:57.510 --> 00:15:03.601
In fact, some of them were a hell of a lot smarter than you and I.

00:15:03.621 --> 00:15:20.285
I wanted to share that long story with you because it sets the stage for us to really genuinely have an appreciation of the four cardinal virtues and what they create for us, because they create a foundation, in fact.

00:15:20.285 --> 00:15:32.489
Just one last quote these four cardinal virtues are not the only virtues, but they are the cadres, the hinges on which the other virtues turn.

00:15:32.489 --> 00:15:36.306
They are the necessary foundation and precondition for all the others.

00:15:36.306 --> 00:15:43.702
If a person is not courageous, for instance, he will not overcome the difficulties inherent in the practice of any virtue.

00:15:43.702 --> 00:15:51.956
If he is not wise, he will not understand what he is doing and his virtue will sink to the level of blind animal instinct.

00:15:53.717 --> 00:15:55.461
There are many more virtues than these.

00:15:55.461 --> 00:16:02.270
There has always been more, for there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

00:16:02.270 --> 00:16:06.505
But nevertheless, this is the foundation.

00:16:06.505 --> 00:16:10.083
This must be built or rebuilt first.

00:16:10.083 --> 00:16:16.442
Social and educational experiments must be built on this foundation or on none.

00:16:16.442 --> 00:16:32.937
If we are to rebuild our civilization, if we are to rebuild a new one, we need to build on a foundation whose posts reach down into our own being, at least Ultimately.

00:16:32.937 --> 00:16:38.749
They must be anchored in God, but we are the image of God.

00:16:38.749 --> 00:16:39.796
But we are the image of God.

00:16:41.418 --> 00:16:50.471
And now we know the why of having the foundational virtues in our lives, which is an important concept.

00:16:50.471 --> 00:17:14.479
The why is very important Because human beings, in our very same place, over the course of some 2,500 years, have thought about and pondered, debated and wrestled with these virtues, and they are the best of the best of human experience, especially what human experience has taught us over those years.

00:17:14.479 --> 00:17:31.287
The cardinal virtues have had a lasting impact on Western philosophy, on ethics, on even religious thought, and now we know the why behind those virtues.

00:17:31.287 --> 00:17:40.666
They have been incorporated into various ethical frameworks and they continue to be relevant in discussions of moral character and behavior.

00:17:40.666 --> 00:17:51.603
Most especially in Christian teaching, cultivating these virtues is seen as essential for leading an upright and moral life and being a positive force in society.

00:17:51.603 --> 00:17:57.780
In fact, they are the foundation, the foundation in building a flourishing life.

00:17:57.780 --> 00:17:58.280
Now.

00:17:58.280 --> 00:18:03.549
Now, next time we'll talk about the three theological virtues faith, hope and love.

00:18:03.549 --> 00:18:08.046
But until then, keep fighting the good fight.

00:18:14.376 --> 00:18:15.622
Thank you for joining us.

00:18:15.622 --> 00:18:19.005
We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.

00:18:19.005 --> 00:18:25.934
Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast.

00:18:25.934 --> 00:22:02.575
No-transcript.

MM#358--Foundations in Flourishing, pt.5 - The Four Cardinal Virtues...But Why?

Listen On

Recent Episodes