Virtue as transformation of the person: the individual and social interactions always go together

The development of any true virtue always involves a profound transformation in the individual, both on a personal level, in his or her intimacy, and in the way he or she approaches relationships with others. If this transformation is not twofold -ad intra and ad extra- we cannot speak of virtues. In this regard, there is a widespread error of confusing virtues with mere personal abilities or skills, which offer us an incomplete and sometimes caricatured image of true personal development. The opposite is also true, the naïve error of thinking that virtue is born only with mere personal interaction, since social life and contacts with others do not in themselves provoke virtuous growth. Let us consider what happens in a community of thugs. Added to this is the fact that there are virtues, such as intellectual virtues, which require above all solitary work. There are social interactions that can sour or even destroy an incipient virtue born in personal solitude. Aristotle explains this well when he speaks of the ethical (personal) and political (social) character of virtue, and Thomas Aquinas returns to this theme when he recognizes that the common good and the individual good, those proper to an authentic virtuous life, are two facets of the good of human life oriented to its fullness. They are not two types of goods that can be separated. It is not even good to do so as a pedagogical strategy: neither to give primacy to the individual, nor to create a model of virtuous development based only on interaction with others.

1. Why is the teaching of values and virtues a highly topical issue nowadays?

A. There is a growing awareness and a growing consensus from different social spheres, such as the family, schools and companies, on the need for greater solidity and depth in the development and training of people. In this sense, education in values and virtues appears as the most appropriate option, since it is the only one that addresses at the same time the need for ethical and moral training together with an attractive, efficient and clear practice for an authentic positive transformation of people.

2. Is training in virtues the same as training in values?

A. Although in a practical sense we use them synonymously, they are not exactly the same. The value is a recognition of the good on the part of the person who, thanks to his estimative capacity, discovers the good, the truth and the beauty in the world that surrounds him. Values are always perceived in a personal way and appear in all cultures, societies, communities, etc. However, virtues have a practical character, we can say that in a certain way they are values incarnated in each person. Virtues are transmitted and form each human being by concrete actions and are recognizable and admired by communities.

3. Are virtues and values objective or subjective, and what do they tell us about the good of the person?

A. Although at many times such a perspective has been used, perhaps the objectivity-subjectivity scheme is not the most adequate to explain the framework in which virtue education develops. It seems more correct to speak of the sense of reality and the relationship that exists between the personal good and the common good, as two intrinsically related elements. Also, the transforming value of certain actions for the achievement of the happiness of the person and the communities. The goods that are developed and made their own through virtuous life are not objective elements, understood as laws, written regulations or rules of behavior intellectually grasped by a thinking subject, but personal goods existing in all societies and cultures that appear when personal life flourishes in them. To give some examples, these would be: the virtue of sincerity, courage, the sense of a job well done, the care and protection of the weakest, etc.

4. What is the purpose of training in values and virtues?

A. The fundamental aim of this training system consists of the comprehensive training of the person across all areas: intellectual, volitional, affective, corporal, social. All these elements, harmoniously arranged, imply the formation in virtues and values. The formation in values and virtues thus links the good of the person with the common social good, as Aristotle explains, the ethical understood as moral development of character and the political understood as community development. In both cases the harmony that the person will reach will be oriented towards happiness as a practical and tangible project in which he himself and others walk together. Values and virtues understood in such

a way are not elements oriented only to individualistic development but to the perfective growth of the person and the community at the same time.

5. What advantages does the training in values and virtues offer in relation to tradition, the current situation and the future of education?

A. We can speak here of respect and recognition of a solid and proven tradition in the formation of persons that begins with the Greek paideia and that runs through the entire history of education and that at a given moment incorporates the elements of the Judeo-Christian tradition that have contributed most to the humanization of cultures and societies. The epistemological contents on which virtue formation is based have the roots and solidity of what has been successful in the integral formation of the human being together with the need for its renewal in the present time.

6. what is the purpose of virtue training?

A. Training in virtues does not have a utilitarian orientation, but is based on the idea of understanding that the human being is made to be happy reaching a full life. The virtues are the most appropriate practical means to achieve this. They take the form of values and operative habits that mold the character, creating stable dispositions to always act in the best way, thus developing what Aristotle calls a “second nature”.

7. Is training in rational technical or ethical skills the same as training in moral and intellectual virtues?

A. Today it is important to distinguish between virtues and educational competencies when it comes to training a student. From a practical point of view, there is no real contradiction between competencies and virtues, as long as the competency is a path to the development of a virtuous life. However, virtues have an irreplaceable moral and ethical component and do not only offer a practical or technical dimension of human development as competencies do. Any virtue, in order to be constituted as such, must be rooted in the intimacy of personal life and not only in measurable or quantifiable goals. Virtue, as opposed to competence, always and depending on the case, needs depth and a more or less profound conversion towards goodness, truth and beauty.

8. How is virtue training carried out?

A. Training in virtues implies concretizing the educational task in tangible goals and actions, thanks to which, through repetition, it is possible to form a habit. Although the ultimate goal of training in virtues is not only the achievement of the habit through the repetition of behaviors but a transformation of the interiority of the person towards goodness, truth and beauty.

9. What are the most important virtues and values to educate?

A. There are many values and virtues of great importance. From the operative point of view, the most important, for being the mother and measure of all the others, is the virtue of prudence. Thanks to it, a practical habit of behavior is achieved in the student that affects a transformation of the character. When prudence grows, it orders the other virtues to make adequate decisions for one’s own life, even when there are goods that apparently could oppose each other. Even so, prudence being the most important virtue from the practical point of view, nevertheless, it needs another superior virtue such as charity. Without the virtue of charity prudence is incomplete. The exercise of human action has a teleological and finalistic character and only the development of the virtue of love, understood in its fullest sense, fully resolves the reason for human action in the present time and its transcendent reality.

10. How virtues are formed, is there any valid approach or strategy to be applied by educators?

A. From the practical point of view, planning and order both in the steps and in the setting of objectives for the formation of virtues is fundamental. However, we cannot speak of a rigid generalizable scheme of virtue training for all individuals, since personal social and cultural circumstances serve to contextualize each virtuous action. It is always fundamental for virtue education that the educator first strives to live them. In this regard, virtuous perfection is not required of him, but a sincere striving to achieve the virtue he is teaching. Personal influence and example is the most important element in virtue education.