{"id":162,"date":"2021-03-25T11:34:56","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T11:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/chapter\/1-of-continence-and-incontinence-heroic-virtue-and-brutality-of-method-statement-of-opinions-about-continence\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T00:14:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T00:14:50","slug":"1-six-kinds-of-character","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/chapter\/1-six-kinds-of-character\/","title":{"rendered":"Section 1: Six kinds of character"},"content":{"raw":"Let us now make a fresh start [15]<\/sub> and say there are three forms having to do with one's character that are to be avoided: vice, lack of self-control, and inhumanity. The contraries of two of these are evident: one we call virtue, the other self-control. To inhumanity it would be most fitting to oppose superhuman virtue, a heroic and divine kind of virtue, as Homer has represented Priam saying of Hector [20]<\/sub> that he was exceptionally good:\r\n

For he seemed not to be,\r\nThe child of a mortal man, but one of a god.<\/p>\r\nTherefore if, as they say, humans become gods by excess of virtue, this must evidently be the state of character opposed to the inhuman or beastly state. For as a beast has no vice [25]<\/sub> or virtue, so neither does a god. The divine state is higher than virtue, and that of a beast is a different kind of state from vice.\r\n\r\nNow, since it is rarely that a godlike man is found--to use the epithet of the Spartans, who when they admire any one highly call him a \"godlike man\"--so too the inhuman or beastly type is rarely found among human beings. It is found chiefly among [30]<\/sub> barbarians, but some inhuman qualities are also produced by disease or deformity. And we also call by this evil name those who go beyond all ordinary standards in their vice. We must speak of the inhuman kind of disposition later, though.\r\n\r\nWhile we have discussed vice before, we must now discuss lack of self-control and softness (or effeminacy), [35]<\/sub> and self-control and endurance. For we must treat each of the two neither as identical with virtue nor with wickedness, [1145b1]<\/sub> nor as a different genus. We must, as in all other cases, set the observed facts before us and, after first discussing the difficulties, go on to prove, if possible, the truth of all the common opinions about these ways of being affected. Or, failing this, of the greater number common opinions and [5]<\/sub> the most authoritative ones. For if we both refute the objections and leave the common opinions undisturbed, we shall have proved the case sufficiently.\r\n\r\nNow both self-control and endurance are thought to be included among things good and praiseworthy, and both lack of self-control and softness among things bad and blameworthy.\r\n\r\nAlso the same person seems to be self-controlled [10]<\/sub> who is ready to stand by the result of his reasoning. Likewise, the same person seems to lack self-control who is ready to abandon them. The person who lacks self-control, knowing that what he does is bad, does it anyway as a result of emotion. In contrast, the self-controlled person, knowing that his desires are bad, refuses to follow them, because of his reasoning.\r\n\r\nEveryone calls the temperate person self-controlled and disposed to endurance. Some, however, maintain that the self-controlled person is always temperate, while others do not. [15]<\/sub> And some call the intemperate person someone who lacks self-control and the person who lack's self-control intemperate indiscriminately, while others distinguish them. The prudent person, they sometimes say, cannot lack self-control, while sometimes they say that some who are prudent and clever do lack self-control.\r\n\r\nAgain people are said to lack self-control even with respect to anger, honor, and gain. These, then, are the things that people say. [20]<\/sub>","rendered":"

Let us now make a fresh start [15]<\/sub> and say there are three forms having to do with one’s character that are to be avoided: vice, lack of self-control, and inhumanity. The contraries of two of these are evident: one we call virtue, the other self-control. To inhumanity it would be most fitting to oppose superhuman virtue, a heroic and divine kind of virtue, as Homer has represented Priam saying of Hector [20]<\/sub> that he was exceptionally good:<\/p>\n

For he seemed not to be,
\nThe child of a mortal man, but one of a god.<\/p>\n

Therefore if, as they say, humans become gods by excess of virtue, this must evidently be the state of character opposed to the inhuman or beastly state. For as a beast has no vice [25]<\/sub> or virtue, so neither does a god. The divine state is higher than virtue, and that of a beast is a different kind of state from vice.<\/p>\n

Now, since it is rarely that a godlike man is found–to use the epithet of the Spartans, who when they admire any one highly call him a “godlike man”–so too the inhuman or beastly type is rarely found among human beings. It is found chiefly among [30]<\/sub> barbarians, but some inhuman qualities are also produced by disease or deformity. And we also call by this evil name those who go beyond all ordinary standards in their vice. We must speak of the inhuman kind of disposition later, though.<\/p>\n

While we have discussed vice before, we must now discuss lack of self-control and softness (or effeminacy), [35]<\/sub> and self-control and endurance. For we must treat each of the two neither as identical with virtue nor with wickedness, [1145b1]<\/sub> nor as a different genus. We must, as in all other cases, set the observed facts before us and, after first discussing the difficulties, go on to prove, if possible, the truth of all the common opinions about these ways of being affected. Or, failing this, of the greater number common opinions and [5]<\/sub> the most authoritative ones. For if we both refute the objections and leave the common opinions undisturbed, we shall have proved the case sufficiently.<\/p>\n

Now both self-control and endurance are thought to be included among things good and praiseworthy, and both lack of self-control and softness among things bad and blameworthy.<\/p>\n

Also the same person seems to be self-controlled [10]<\/sub> who is ready to stand by the result of his reasoning. Likewise, the same person seems to lack self-control who is ready to abandon them. The person who lacks self-control, knowing that what he does is bad, does it anyway as a result of emotion. In contrast, the self-controlled person, knowing that his desires are bad, refuses to follow them, because of his reasoning.<\/p>\n

Everyone calls the temperate person self-controlled and disposed to endurance. Some, however, maintain that the self-controlled person is always temperate, while others do not. [15]<\/sub> And some call the intemperate person someone who lacks self-control and the person who lack’s self-control intemperate indiscriminately, while others distinguish them. The prudent person, they sometimes say, cannot lack self-control, while sometimes they say that some who are prudent and clever do lack self-control.<\/p>\n

Again people are said to lack self-control even with respect to anger, honor, and gain. These, then, are the things that people say. [20]<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-162","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":161,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/249"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1234,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/162\/revisions\/1234"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/161"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/162\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=162"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=162"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}