Aristotle and Aquinas most prominently, and many others in addition, note that you can’t actually have one virtue without having all of the others. One may have personal inclinations and talents, but they aren’t developed as virtues without the other virtures being developed proportionately. Without knowing whether and how something ought to be done (requiring justice and prudence), an irascible appetite, be it strong our weak, is rather at sea.
My goodness.
The deep thinkers are out in force today.
Good.
Your post deserves some time spent in contemplation.
Thank you, also.
“Foundation” conveys the idea of “coming first”.
It denotes a thing that must be before other things can be.
While it is interesting to examine the sequencing of virtues, I think the important point is to examine how we can grow virtues in people.
Our world is a very computerized world now. Things happen so fast in computers that to us, they appear to happen at the same time.
But they don’t. There is a sequence.
I spent the summers of my youth on a dry land grain farm. I saw the organic process of growing things. I saw that sequence play out over months, not milliseconds.
You can’t harvest unless you plant first.
For us organics, humans, I think that courage must be present before the other virtues may blossom.
If we are to harvest virtue(s), I believe we must first plant courage.