Defining the Moral Virtues

And their corresponding vices

I am always thinking about virtue and vice (it’s a major part of my dissertation topic). The following is a list of the Seven Moral Virtues with their corresponding vices. I have been trying to hone my definitions for each of these terms. Using the Aristotelian mean, where virtue is the mean between two corresponding vices, I have tried to identify what I think would be the vice of deficiency on one side and excess on the other. Below are some proposed definitions for all of the virtues and vices. The goal is to have clarity on these terms so students can spot examples of them in action as we read the Great Books. I welcome your thoughts!

1. (Virtue) Prudence: Acting in accordance with knowledge and wisdom to make the right decision in the moment of action.

   1. (Vice of Deficiency) Ignorance: Willfully remaining without knowledge and wisdom.

   2. (Vice of Excess) Arrogance: Deceiving oneself, and often others, by acting as though one had knowledge and wisdom.

2. (Virtue) Temperance: The mastery of one’s own passions and desires so as to yield to desire only when it is prudent and to deny oneself when needful.

   1. (Vice of Deficiency) Deprivation: Needlessly denying oneself participation in just and lawful pleasures when prudence would permit.

   2. (Vice of Excess) Indulgence: Foolishly yielding to pleasures and desires when prudence dictates it would be better to deny oneself.

3. (Virtue) Fortitude: The willingness to risk one's own personal wellbeing, when prudence dictates it for the best, to do that which is just.

   1. (Vice of Deficiency) Cowardice: The seeking of self preservation when justice demands risk for doing what is good and right.

   2. (Vice of Excess) Recklessness: The foolish risking of one’s own wellbeing when action is unlikely to bring good to anyone but only more harm.

4. (Virtue) Justice: The fair and equitable treatment of one’s neighbor, and those under our authority, according to the objective moral law of God. 

   1. (Vice of Deficiency) License: Acting, or permitting those under our authority to act, as though the moral law was of little consequence.

   2. (Vice of Excess) Despotism: Exacting overly harsh punishment upon cases of lawbreaking, or punishing those who did not break the moral law as if they did.

5. (Virtue) Faith: Believing with confidence that which is true and worthy of intellectual assent to the point that our actions accord with our beliefs.

   1. (Vice of Deficiency) Unbelief: Withholding intellectual assent towards things which are true and worthy causing us to not act as we ought.

   2. (Vice of Excess) Gullibility: The willingness to believe that which is of no credibility and ought not to receive our intellectual assent, causing us to wander to and fro in our actions.

6. (Virtue) Hope: To acknowledge certain, yet future, events as sure realities based upon the faithful promises and infallible character of God.

   1. (Vice of Deficiency) Despair: To act as if there is no hope even when there is reason for hope.

   2. (Vice of Excess) Fantasy: To act as if there is reason for hope when there is in fact none.

7. (Virtue) Love: The attuning of one's admiration and affection proportionately to the worthiness of the object.

   1. (Vice of Deficiency) Indifference: The failing to appropriately esteem an object worthy of more of one’s admiration and affection.

   2. (Vice of Excess) Obsession: The act of inappropriately lavishing a disproportionate amount of admiration and affection upon an object.