Human Person, Virtue and Society

Society

An organized group composed of

human individuals who are
interdependent and share
something in common like values
and norms; history and culture;
traditions and ways of living.
The different components of
society have their respective roles
and function orderly to bring
about self-sufficiency, order,
harmony, and progress not only to
the group but more importantly
to the individual members.
Classification of Societies
HUNTING AND GATHERING –
earliest form of society that relies
on hunting wild animals and
gathering uncultivated plants for
subsistence.
HORTICULTURAL OR PASTORAL – relies on cultivating
plants through the use of simple tools like wooden
implements and on raising animals for subsistence.
AGRARIAN OR AGRICULTURAL –
relies on cultivating plants
through the use of more
advanced metal tools and
weapons for subsistence.
INDUSTRIAL – relies on the use
of machine technology and
inanimate sources of energy for
subsistence
POST-INDUSTRIAL
AND VIRTUAL – relies
not only on machine
technology but also
on digital technology.
Two Basic Reasons

Self-preservation –
Reproduction –
makes people come
leads men and
together for their
women to unite
mutual benefit
Social Agents

Family Peers Society

School Culture
According to St. Thomas Aquinas
Definition of Virtue

• Virtue is a good quality of the

mind by which we live
righteously of which no one
can make bad use, which God
works in us and without us.
• Virtue lives in the human soul, it
lives in the mind and the will, in
our thinking, and in our choosing.
• Virtue confers on us, when we
have it, the ability to think rightly
on what we should do but the
ability to do it.
• It is one thing to know the right
thing to do, it is another thing to
do it, and to do it well. That is
what virtue gives.
Moral Virtues
• Moral virtue disposes us to
act well and it requires
more than simply knowing
what the right thing and
good thing to know is.
• For instance, we need to
have our passions in line. If
we know the right thing to
do but we are scared to do
it, we won’t do it. if we
know the right thing to do
but do it with excessive
anger, we won’t do it
morally.
• Moral virtue moderates
our passions so that we can
act according to reason for
the true good. Moral
virtues do not subdue our
passions.
• Passions are good for St
Thomas. The more virtuous
a person is, the more they
feel, and the more they
feel rightly. Because the
virtuous person is not
afraid of his or her feelings.
The more perfect the virtue
is the more passionate the
person becomes.
The Cardinal Virtues
• Cardo (Lat.) = “hinge”
• These four virtues guide the others by giving
them order, rule and measure
• All other human virtues are related to or hinged
to one of the cardinal virtues. When lacking
these cardinal virtues, they easily turn into vices
(lack or excess of virtue)
 • An intellectual virtue that that perfects the practical reason. It is right
reason about things to be done (recta ratio agibilium).
• The most important moral virtue, it’s the charioteer of virtue. It directs
Prudence all the virtues. E.g. Prudence determines the courageous thing to do in
this moment is or what the temperate thing to do is and to enjoy at this
moment. It says what is the just thing to do at this moment.
• It is prudence which tells the virtues how to be themselves.
• We become prudent by learning from
our elders, from those who have lived
long enough to learn from their
mistakes and so more time to grow in
prudence.
• We become prudent by experience,
by living life, by being self-reflective,
by making choices and seeing how
they turn out and looking back and
trying to figure out how we could
have done that differently…
• The moral life is not something that
we engage alone, it is something we
engage in the community.
Justice

• The perpetual and constant perpetual will

to render each one his due.
• Giving what is due to God (religion) and to
fellowman.
• Justice and mercy always go together:
“The Lord is merciful and just” (Ps 116: 5)
Fortitude
• The stable disposition to do the right
thing in the face of fear.
• That virtue which you need to get the
good things in your life.
• Keeps us shrinking away from great
difficulties but also keeps us from rushing
in in foolishness.
• It is Right between being a coward and
being a fool on the other.
Temperance
• The virtuous moderation of sense
pleasure: pleasures of the flesh,
food, drink, all of which can be
good when experienced in accord
with reason.
• The virtue of temperance is in
between intemperance, which is
simply a pursuit of pleasure, one
after another, and insensibility or
frigidity or unwillingness to
experience pleasure.
The Way of Tao
Invariables
Although things are
ever changeable
and changing, that
laws that govern
them are not
changeable.
Enlightenment

• Knowing the
invariable of nature
• Fundamental law:
“when a thing
reaches one
extreme, it reverts
from it.”
Wu-Wei

• Tao consequently acts by

“non-acting”
• “having no activity” or
“non-action”
• Does not mean complete
absence of activity, or
doing less or acting
without artificiality or
arbitrariness
Te
• The power of the Tao revealed in
the world of phenomena and the
“virtue” that this power gives to
anyone or anything that follows the
“way of the Tao.”
• Virtue is genuineness or being true
to one’s own nature that is, avoiding
artificiality and pretense.
• Man loses Te when s/he has too
many desires and too much
knowledge.
Sage

• One who has the

qualities of the Tao and
these are being through
non-being, action
through non-action;
and strength through
softness.
• To yield is to preserved
whole, to be empty is
to be full, and to have
little to possess
 The most
important point
to realize that in
order to live in
any specified
manner, one must
begin by living in
a manner exactly
the opposite.
Human Conduct in Society
Jen
Golden Rule
“Do to others what you
wish others do to you”

“Not to do to others
what you wish others
not to do to you”
• The virtue that
enables one to
distinguish
between right
and wrong; it is
like conscience
or an inner
judge within an
individual.
Li
• Propriety
• Code or Ritual
• Rituals on proper
conduct of an
individual
Hsin
• Truthful and sincere in
one’s speech
• Fulfilling or keeping one’s
promises and being
conscientious in
performing one’s duties
and obligation to others
and to the community
Hsiao (Xiao)

• Obedience, devotion, and

care for one’s parents
and the elderly in the
family
• Motivates children to
love and respect their
parents, to be concerned
for their welfare and
comfort, and to bring
happiness and honor to
their family
 • A righteous act is done without any selfish
motive or intention; it is obligation or imperative
without conditions.
Gentleman
• He is expected to develop a good
moral character, to practice filial
piety and loyalty to other in the
proper manner especially to the
elderly, and to practice
benevolence.
 Perfect Man
One who combines the qualities of saint, scholar, and gentleman