S
Sculli
Guest
Virtues are nice, but they do not govern our lives. Virtues and values can be one and the same for some people, but they don't have to be.Torque said:Id also like to disagree with your word choice Sculli, should be virtues not values. Values are subjective, virtues are objective.
The problem with virtues is that they are absolut (or as you put it, objective), while life isn't like that, which makes it difficult to apply them at times.
Take the Virtue of Justice, which includes the unwillingness to lie or steal. Meaning no matter what, you will not lie or steal, ever, regardless of the circumstances. It's not practical. After Katrina people were looting grocery stores, they were stealing, taking what is not theirs, and not paying for it. No two ways about that, by the letters of the law, and virtue, that is stealing. However, they were doing it to save their own life, not to enrich them (even though I am sure some were doing it for profit, but let's not talk about those here).
Are those who were out in waist deep filthy water all day to go and steal some food and water from a store miles away and bring it back to their elderly grandparents who couldn't even move in 110 degree heat bad people? By the letters of the Virtue of Justice, they are.
Which is why people live their lives by values. Positive values allow you to have good character, and still do something that is in violation or some rule or some law if the situation leaves you no other choice.