The Cardinal Virtues

1
The Cardinal Virtues

• Hinges Holding Together the Moral Life
• Source Morality (Stoutzenberger)

2
What are the key Christian virtues?

• Four pivotal (cardinal) virtues are

• Justice

• Temperance

• Prudence

Fortitude
3
Prudence Practical Judgment
4
Prudence Practical Judgment

• ASKS
• What is the right thing to do in this
  particular situation?
• operates like common sense.
• is the art of making moral decisions on the spur
  of the moment.

• Prudence disposes the practical reason to
  discern, in every circumstance, our true good and
  to choose the right means for achieving it (UC
  1806)

5
Justice The Virtues of Rights and
Responsibilities

• Reminds us that
• people have rights and
• People deserve to have basic needs met.

• Developing justice ensures that morality should
  not remain individualized.
• Justice ranks our own good as equal to the good
  of all people.

Promotes the COMMON GOOD
6
Fortitude The Courage to Act

• The challenge is to stand up for what is right
• - in the face of peer pressure
• - in circumstances when we are being called
  upon to step out of our usual patterns of
  behavior.

• Without courage, the other virtues are useless.
• Following our beliefs when it really means going
  against the status quo requires COURAGE.

7
Temperance The Virtue of Self-Control (Balance)

• The virtue
• of personal harmony and balance.
• advocates a wholesome lifestyle
• need not eliminate pleasure, partying, sensual
  experiences, and even wild times
• reminds us that even good things turn sour when
  they control us

8

• Temperance moderates the attraction of the
  pleasures of the senses and provides balance in
  the use of created goods (UC 1838)

9

• A Matching Exercise

10
The four cardinal virtues stand for useful and
commonplace qualities that, if practiced, can
help us improve our moral life.
11
Match each phrase to the one of the four cardinal
virtues that it most describes.
Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance

• Common sense
• Working for fairness and equality
• Moral courage
• Self-control
• Knowing when to say no
• Standing up for what is right
• Acting cautiously
• Moderation

• Practical wisdom
• Giving people what they are due
• Making a commitment to avoid excessive watching
  of TV
• Changing a course of action when a better way
  comes along
• Concern for people lacking basic needs

12
Read over the following scenario. Apply each of
the four cardinal virtues to the decision. Work
out in groups.

• You are at a dance at another school.
• Three students from the host school are making
  fun of a friend and classmate of yours.
• Your friend is close to getting into a fight with
  the other student.
• What do you do?

13
Activity

• In your journals, assess yourself of what you
  typically bring to your decision-making
• If you were to receive an award today for a
  virtue that you exhibit,what would the award be
  for? Describe how you came to possess that
  virtue.
• If you were to die in five years, what do you
  hope people would say about you?