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You are here: Home / 5 Liberal Arts / Ethics / What is a Virtue?

What is a Virtue?

November 13, 2009 by mattperman

From Ethics: Approaching Moral Decisions (Contours of Christian Philosophy) by Arthur Holmes:

[There are] motives, intentions, and underlying dispositions. What these have in common, first, is that they are all inner states rather than overt behaviors and, second, that they are affective rather than purely cognitive states.

A virtue is a right inner disposition, and a disposition is a tendency to act in certain ways. Disposition is more basic, lasting and pervasive than the particular motive or intention behind a certain action. It differs from a sudden impulse in being a settled habit of mind, an internalized and often reflective trait. Virtues are general character traits that provide inner sanctions on our particular motives, intentions and outward conduct.

…virtue is the love of what is just and good.

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I am the director of career development at The King’s College NYC, co-founder of What’s Best Next, and the author of What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done. This is my personal website where I blog on four of my favorite topics: theology, apologetics, culture, and living in New York City.

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