Virtue

In Our Time: Philosophy

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2002

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of virtue. When Socrates asked the question ‘How should man live?’ Plato and Aristotle answered that man should live a life of virtue. Plato claimed there were four great virtues - Temperance, Justice, Prudence and Courage and the Christian Church added three more - Faith, Hope and Love. But where does the motivation for virtue come from? Do we need rules to tell us how to behave or can we rely on our feelings of compassion and empathy towards other human beings? Shakespeare’s Iago says “Virtue! A fig! ‘tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens to the which our wills are gardeners. ” So is virtue a character trait possessed by some but not others? Is it derived from reason? Or does it flow from the innate sympathies of the human heart? For the last two thousand years philosophers have grappled with these ideas, but now in the twenty first century a modern reappraisal of virtue is taking the argument back to basics with Aristotle. With Galen Strawson, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading; Miranda Fricker, Lecturer in Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London; Roger Crisp, Uehiro Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St Anne's College, Oxford.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for downloading the In Our Time podcast.
0:02.2	For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.
0:07.1	UK forward slash Radio 4.
0:09.4	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:12.0	Hello, when Socrates has asked the question how should man live, Plato and Aristotle answered that
0:17.0	man should live a life of virtue.
0:19.0	Plato claimed there were four great virtues, temperance, justice, prudence and courage.
0:22.8	And the Christian Church added three more, faith, hope and love.
0:26.6	But where does the motivation for virtue come from?
0:29.2	Do we need rules to tell us how to behave?
0:31.8	Or can we rely on our feelings of compassion and
0:34.1	empathy towards other human beings. Shakespeare's Yago said,
0:38.0	Virtue, a fig. It is in ourselves and that we are thus or thus.
0:41.9	Our bodies are our gardens to the which our
0:44.0	wills are gardeners. So is virtue a character tray possessed by some but not
0:48.1	others? Is it derived from reason or does it flow from the innate sympathies of the human heart?
0:53.7	For the last 2,000 years, philosophers have grappled with these ideas, but now in the 21st century
0:58.2	a modern re-appraisal of virtue is taking the argument back to the Greeks with Aristotle.
1:03.3	We'll me to discuss virtue are the philosophers Gable Strossen, professor of philosophy at the
1:08.3	University of Reading, Miranda Frica, lecturer in philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, and Roger Crisp,
1:14.6	your fellow and tutoring philosophy at an An's College Oxford.
1:18.1	Roger Crisp, Plato, as I understand it, believed in a set of cardinal virtues. What were they and where did they come from?
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