On Virtue

In our introductory lecture, Dr. Bonevac explores the foundations of ethics through virtue theory, drawing on Confucius, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle to examine what it means to live a good life and cultivate good character. We address three central questions—what kind of person to be, what to do, and how to decide—while discussing virtue as a mean between extremes, the unity of virtues, weakness of will, and the role of habit in developing virtue. The lecture concludes by considering how virtues may instead be complex combinations of simpler traits rather than strict means between extremes.