Virtues of the Human Heart 4
Study Guide Questions for pg. 32-45
If you are looking for the beginning of the study on Josef Pieper’s “A Brief Reader on the Virtues of the Human Heart” then you can go HERE for a brief introduction. At the bottom of the introduction you will find the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. If you would like to see the growing list of book studies available for free on this site you can go HERE. Enjoy!
Last Line of Reading Ends: “…virginity relate to chastity.”
Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)
Temperance, Despair, Indulgence, Truth
Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)
According to Pieper, what is the problem with the “customary notion of ‘moderation?’”
What did Pieper describe as being a “harder countenance” in the Christian life?
If Temperance “is not itself the stream” what is it according to Pieper?
What did Piper call “basic powers of man?”
What shows itself wherever “a culture is ripe for ruin?”
What principle did Augustine give concerning “how much one eats?”
What two concepts (virtues) did Pieper say “are not mutually exclusive” even though they are “intimately connected?”
List at least three traits of the magnanimous person.
How does “the concupiscence of the eyes” affect man according to Pieper?
What does a person with “concupiscence of the eyes” construct for themselves once that vice has reached “its uttermost destructive and extirpative power?”
If one is to resist the concupiscence of the eyes, with what must one “shape himself and the world?”
According to Pieper, who is the “only one” who “can know the truth?”
What constituted “the essence of the moral person?”
What is said to sink man “to the level of a beast” even though it is something exclusive to human beings (and not present in beasts)?
Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)
What is Pieper cautioning his reader against concerning the “customary notion of ‘moderation’” and its “fear of any exuberance?” How is this notion different from the virtue of temperance?
What does it mean to say that discipline means nothing less than “to keep life in uninterrupted contact with pain and thus to remain prepared to be ‘put into service at any time for the purposes of a higher order?’” Try to give an example that might make sense of this.
Why would Thomas Aquinas say “the goal and norm of discipline is bliss?” How might this be true?
In what way can anger play an important role in “overcoming licentiousness in pleasure?” What did he mean by that?
In your own words, explain what magnanimity is. How does magnanimity relate to the larger discussion of being virtuous or seeking after the good?
What would you say is Pieper’s main point as it relates to the “concupiscence of the eyes” and the dangers it poses?
When Pieper refers to the “asceticism of perception” as a cure for the concupiscence of the eyes, what does he mean by that?
Pieper wrote, “Only one who wants nothing for himself, one who is not ‘interested’ in an unobjective manner can know the truth.” What does this mean?
Pieper argues that “sensual pleasure” is not excluded from the Christian life and teaching of Scripture but, rather, that this pleasure is “made possible precisely through the virtue of discipline and moderation.” How can real pleasure be a product of discipline and moderation?
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)
Pieper said, “Temperance is not, in the strict and final sense, “realization” of the good. Discipline and moderation and chastity are not in themselves the fulfillment of man.” Explain what this means and then answer the following question. Could the same be What does this mean and do you agree with Pieper’s point here? Do you think the same could be said of all the virtues or is there an important difference between temperance and the other virtues in regard to this point? Explain your perspective and defend your answer with reason.
Consider the Augustinian principle shared about “what and how much one eats.” To what extent are our personal habits concerning food and drink not merely a matter of personal health but actually a moral issue that affects others? Do you think we owe it to our neighbor to be temperate with food, or is that none of their concern? Explain and defend your view.
Pieper wrote, “To be open to the truth of real things and to live by perceived truth: these constitute the essence of the moral person.” Explain what you understand this to mean and then make a case for or against the truth of this claim.
Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)
Read Proverbs 25:28. Explain how this proverb relates to the topic of Temperance.
Read Philippians 4:10-13. How does what the apostle Paul says in Philippians connect with the concept of Temperance?
Read Ecclesiastes 2. What are some principles concerning the virtue of Temperance and the vice of Indulgence which we can mine out from this text?