Ancient Greek philosophers recognized some cardinal virtues of man.
According to Plato, the major cardinal virtues are the following:
(1) Wisdom:
A virtuous person always acts rationally. In other words, rational activity is virtuous. In this way wisdom is a virtue which assimilates all other virtues. It is the basis of all the virtues, and without it virtues are virtually impossible.
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Wisdom means action according to the situation in time and place after understanding them. Plato has included foresight, care, permanence of choice and prudence hi wisdom.
(2) Courage:
Courage has a lot of significance hi the life of an individual. Courage is needed to protect oneself from the attractions of bad acts in life. Only a courageous person can manage to remain adamant to the biggest attractions.
A person lacking the ability to say ‘no’ falters when confronted by these attractions. In this way, courage assimilates flour and fortitude. Valor is the external aspect of courage while fortitude is its internal aspect.
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Valor is active courage and fortitude is passive courage. Due to valor, an individual proceeds to his objective undeterred by many difficulties. On the basis of fortitude man bears the most acute pains quietly.
In this way courage includes perseverance, diligence, decision, faith, hope and belief. A man needs courage of different degrees when placed in different circumstances. A soldier needs physical courage. A social reformer to religious person finds moral courage more to his liking. Courage is a social quality.
(3) Temperance:
Temperance is an individual quality. Like courage, it too has much importance in the person’s life. Both courage and temperance help to safeguard him against attractions. Temperance means avoiding the attractions of sensuous or intellectual pleasures.
A temperate person controls his senses by means of his reason. In this way temperance is self discipline. It is opposed to extremes of any kind. Avoidance of excess everywhere is the fundamental formula of temperance.
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Temperance is a measure to keep the individual engrossed in endeavors of obtaining his objective. Temperance has both a positive and a negative aspect the positive aspect consists of unity of purpose or objective and its concentration.
Self-sacrifice, self- restraint, etc., comprise the negative aspect. By means of both these kinds of temperance a person can save his energy from waste and concentrate it in the attainment of objective.
(4) Justice:
Justice is a social virtue which is actually inclusive of all social virtues. It includes love, courtesy, cheerfulness, honesty, fidelity, doing duty, respecting promises, etc. A just person does put obstacles in another’s way. This is a necessary condition in benevolence. Only a just person can be benevolent.