The concept of virtues reaches down through history into prehistoric ages. It describes the qualities a person has to be expierienced as positive. Often translated as virtue, ths concept of arete is more elementary.
I must be this vague, because in ancient times the concept of good and evil as opposite and negating forces was not necessarily common.In ancient egypt the concept of Maat stands for order, justice and balance, the counterpart Isfet describes chaos, injustice and imbalance. Same is in the gaulish celtic religion the term Matos for good and Anmatos for ungood. The counterparts are not strictly and rigid as in the manichaean idea of the all good and the all evil. In context of our european heritage we must be aware that there were ideas and values common which seem alien and strange to us today.
A virtue can be described as a positive quality of a person. The term virtue itself comes from the latin virtus, which can be described as masculinity, quality of man or manliness. (see also "The quality of man"). It were the properties a person must possess for becoming a man.
The older concept of Arete is far more elementary. We have no word for Arete in our language, it can be described with excellence, quality of a thing. The arete of a knife is to cut things. That is the idea which makes a knife a knife. If the object cuts very well it has excellence in the idea of cutting, it has the arete of cutting. The idea of a horse is to run fast, it´s beauty and grace. If a horse lacks this qualities it has a lack of arete.
The thought behind it is in my understanding that every thing, every being is just noise in the universe. But in recognizing the pattern in it and the idea it represents make us understand and differ between the rock, the bird and the man. A bird is a pattern which represents the idea of, if you like, birdness. The more it represent the idea of the bird the more it has birdlike qualities. A bird which lacks this qualities seems strange to us, maybe it is not even recongnizable as bird like for example penguins, the Dodo or the Emu. Birds representing the qualities of birdness are for example the hawk, the dove, the sparrow, the eagle. every single bird, to stay in this example, is in itself unique and original. Itself is an individual, but all the doves represent the idea of the dove and in it, the idea of a bird.
The early philosophers of todays greek debates about the properties of man (see also "The quality of man"), which qualities a man must have to gain arete. A essence of this ancient debatte are the four cardinal virtues or qualities of man which are wisdom, justice, moderation and bravery.
To have this qualities is a process of learning and practicing. No human is born as a being of high qualities, it is a becoming. And not the good ones are becoming this qualities, it is this qualities that makes man a good one. It is the idea of becoming fully human. It is the concept of being fully human and not an animal or less.
To define the qualities, the virtues, give us the possibility to think and reflect upon it, having a orientation point to strive for, a direction.
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