September 6, 2022
Wealth, if managed well, can be a positive good, not just a necessary evil.
The term “virtue” refers to one’s character. A person of virtue is one who possesses the excellences of character that are proper to human beings. Obviously, this conception of virtue implies that there exists a common human nature that allows us to identify certain characteristics that an excellent person possesses. Prior to the 19th century this kind of claim was relatively uncontroversial. At the time of the American founding the language of virtue was widely employed, and though writers meant a variety of things by the term, nearly all affirmed the existence of a moral order created by God and to which humans were obligated. Even today, where metaphysical claims about human nature or moral reality are less widely affirmed, most of us recognize at some level the goodness of courage, self-control, wisdom, generosity, and so on. We praise people with such characteristics and we criticize those who are cowardly, feckless, foolish, and stingy.
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