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The Stoics say that there are many virtues, although each virtue entails all the others; sometimes they give lists of what these virtues are, or rather of the generic virtues that include all specific virtuous disposi- tions. Sometimes they give the conventional list, "prudence, temper- ance, courage, justice" (Stobaeus II, 60 Wachsmuth-Hense); but two sources (Diogenes Laertius VII, 92 and the prologue to the pseudo- Plutarchan Placita) say the Stoics think there are three virtues, logic, physics, and ethics; and Cicero De Finibus III, 72-3 confirms that the Stoics list dialectic and physics as virtues, alongside the familiar moral virtues. It seems strange to us to count physics as a virtue. The Stoics, like the Platonic Socrates, thought that virtues were arts or sciences;l 1 this may seem strange already, but we can understand it by saying that whoever knows the good will desire it and choose it, so that knowledge of the good will be a virtue and will motivate action. This may explain why some knowledge is a virtue, but it will not explain why physics is a virtue, since physics is not a knowledge of the good (and no ancient philosopher said it was). Nor
Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy Online – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 1995
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