Personal Virtue and Social Conditions

The blog assignment for this week asks us to think of a morally admirable person and describe the ways his or her virtues are connected to the society in which s/he lives or lived.  The second half of this assignment is especially important, since there is sometimes a tendency to think that virtuous people exist in a sort of cultural and historical vacuum.  In fact, every virtuous person is virtuous because of and in the context of his or her particular experiences -- personal as well as social.

Some people overcome great personal and social obstacles to practice virtue and to help make their society better.  Good examples of such people are members of minority groups, women, and others who suffer social exclusion and/or repression.  Despite lacking access to the same resources as more powerful members of society and experience injustice and often physical and emotional abuse, they do not take the path of anger, bitterness, or virtue but rather astound both their enemies and their allies with their example of virtues such as patience, forgiveness, and generosity.  Martin Luther King Jr. is an outstanding example of this kind of virtue.

Other virtuous people seem to become good not in spite of but because of their social conditions.  Their personal histories, families, economic advantages, and cultural training all equip them to embody certain virtues.  Not everyone succeeds, of course, but some do.  One notable example is England's Queen Elizabeth II, who has served as an example of culturally valued virtues such as courage, patience, and courtesy, particularly during World War II and other crises.

Obviously, neither Martin Luther King nor Queen Elizabeth embody virtues that everyone values, and even those who value those virtues may not agree that these individuals embody them fully.  However, these two examples help us think about a couple of the different ways that social conditions and histories enter into the construction and practice of personal virtues.