Editing Virtue (section)

==== Aristotelian virtue ====
{{see also|Virtue ethics#Lists of virtues}}
In his ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'', [[Aristotle]] defined a virtue as a point between a deficiency and an excess of a trait.<ref name=NE26>{{cite book |author=[[Aristotle]] |title=[[Nicomachean Ethics]] |at=[https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/aristotle/nicomachean-ethics/f-h-peters/text/book-2#chapter-2-1-6 II.6] }}</ref> The point of greatest virtue lies not in the exact middle, but at a [[Golden mean (philosophy)|golden mean]] sometimes closer to one extreme than the other. This golden mean obtains at a desirable middle between excess and deficiency. For Aristotle, the desirableness of the trait at the golden mean—that which makes it a virtue—consists in its disposition to be "chosen under the proper guidance of reason."<ref>{{cite book |last=Audi |first=Robert |author-link= |date=2015 |title=The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy |url= |location= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=1114 |isbn=9781107015050}}</ref> That is, in its disposition to foster human flourishing, a state defined with respect to human nature conceived [[teleology|teleologically]], or as an end to be realized instead of a descriptive fact to be understood.

However, the virtuous action is not simply the "mean" (mathematically speaking) between two opposite extremes. As Aristotle says in the ''Nicomachean Ethics'': "at the right times, and on the right occasions, and towards the right persons, and with the right object, and in the right fashion, is the mean course and the best course, and these are characteristics of virtue."<ref name=NE26 /> For example, generosity is a virtue between the two extremes of miserliness and being profligate. Further examples include courage between cowardice and foolhardiness and confidence between [[self-deprecation]] and conceit. In Aristotle's sense, a virtue is an excellence at being human.

===== Intellectual virtues =====
Aristotle also identifies the [[Nicomachean_Ethics#Book_VI:_Intellectual_virtues|"intellectual virtues"]] of knowledge, art, practical judgement, intuition, and wisdom.