Virtue

We were asked to read....

Meno by Plato

Nicomachean Ethics by Aristole

We were asked to think about...

1. Where does Plato believe virtue is derived?
2. How does Aristotle define virtue?

Then we were asked to write about "Can virtue be taught?"

I think that virtue is both indirectly taught and taught by the affects of virtue. As Aristotle stated,

“ By doing the acts that we do in our transactions with other men we become just or unjust, and by doing the acts that we do in the presence of danger, and being habituated to feel fear or confidence, we become brave or cowardly. The same is true of appetites and feelings of anger; some men becometemperate and good-tempered, others self-indulgent and irascible, by behaving in one way or the other in the appropriate circumstances.”

The last line says, we behave appropriately within circumstances. I think that we indirectly teach students what “model” virtue is by our own actions.

However, more than we teach students virtue, they learn it from their experiences. Students act based on emotions and circumstances and based on the consequences (good and bad) of their actions, they learn to adjust their actions (virtue). Meno said “virtue is relative to the actions and ages of each of us in all that we do”.  I think that students react to different circumstances differently as they grow older, because they have adjusted their virtue throughout time as they have been through experiences.

I think that teaching virtue is difficult though because many virtues are based off of morals and beliefs which teachers should not impose on students, although we indirectly are all the time, by our actions and reactions.

For example, a student of mine lost a parent suddenly at the end of the school year. Two of her classmates attended the funeral services and between their parents and I we discussed being open about their feelings and feeling free to talk to them or to me when they are sad or have a question. Although neither student asked me a question in the last three weeks of school, they watched how I interacted with the child that lost her father and based on how I acted, is how they acted.

                Again, most virtue is taught through experience, but although the two classmates didn’t lose a parent, they were able to learn to have empathy for their classmate and to a certain degree learned how to behave based on my actions (taught indirectly). I would agree with Plato though, it is hard to say still whether it is taught or learned.