On Virtues and Vices
This brief presentation classifies virtues and vices according to different parts of the soul. Definitions and characteristic behaviors produce a moral map rather than a sustained investigation of reasons for action.
Understanding the text
The work is pseudepigraphic and resembles Platonic tripartition; its transmitted attribution must not obscure that mixture of traditions.
Transmitted under Aristotle’s name; personal authorship is disputed or rejected.
Key points
- 01
Divided soul
Dispositions are assigned to reason, spirit and appetite, organizing the moral classification.
- 02
Portraits
Typical behaviors make definitions concrete but can also turn categories of people into fixed stereotypes.
- 03
General virtues
Justice, generosity and greatness of soul connect several dimensions of character rather than one isolated skill.
How to read it
Compare the definitions with Nicomachean Ethics and ask what the abbreviated format leaves unjustified.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗