This page groups virtues by their standing within a named list. Wikipedia notes that "the cardinal virtues are four virtues of mind and character in classical philosophy. They are prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance." Browsing by status-within-tradition lets a visitor tell a virtue holding a fixed place on a named list from one that does not.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingNamed qualities a tradition holds worth cultivating, given in that tradition's own list and with the reason it offers. Comparison across traditions is an established field, but the lists are not translations of one another: a quality grouped as one virtue in one scheme is divided, ranked differently or absent in another. 1 Size of the Traditional SetSeven in the Latin Christian scheme: four cardinal virtues and three theological 2 Origins
Whose Classification This IsThe Western set of seven is composite: four cardinal virtues - prudence, justice, temperance, courage - from Greek philosophy through Cicero and Ambrose, and three theological virtues of faith, hope and love from 1 Corinthians 13. Thomas Aquinas fixed the sevenfold arrangement in the Summa Theologiae. It is a Latin Christian scheme and not a universal one. 2 Learn More
Qualities Worth Cultivating
This category holds the virtues, the qualities that moral and spiritual traditions name as worth cultivating. The best-known Western set is the seven: the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, inherited from Greek philosophy, and the three theological virtues of faith, hope and love (charity) from Christian teaching. Alongside them stand the contrary or heavenly virtues, each paired against one of the seven deadly sins: humility against pride, charity against greed, chastity against lust, kindness against envy, temperance against gluttony, patience against wrath and diligence against sloth.
Each entry gives a virtue in the terms of the tradition that names it, the reason offered for cultivating it, and its place in that tradition's moral scheme.
Comparing the Schemes
The Western scheme groups the virtues in three ways at once: the four cardinal virtues of classical philosophy, the three theological virtues of Christian teaching, and the seven heavenly virtues set against the deadly sins. Some virtues belong to more than one grouping, temperance is both cardinal and a counter to gluttony, charity both theological and a counter to greed, and the entries note where a virtue sits in each.
Each virtue is given with the vice it is set against, where the tradition draws that pairing. The vices themselves are treated in their own category.
Status Within Tradition
Sources
1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Edward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman (eds.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2024s.v. Virtue EthicsView the Source 2. Summa Theologiae
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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