September 5, 2010
The Four Indispensable Tools
Fr. Spitzer often observes that Level 3 has to be chosen every day. It’s impossible to make that choice consistently and effectively without Prudence, Courage, Fairness, and Self-Control.
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A depiction of Wisdom by Raphael |
The four Cardinal Virtues aren’t named for a bird, or a baseball team, or the men who elect the Pope. The word “cardinal” comes from the Latin, cardo, which means hinge. So the Cardinal Virtues literally mean those virtues on which all moral behavior depends. A lack of these four makes it very hard to do the right thing consistently.
At the same time, though, the Cardinal Virtues are not considered good in and of themselves. Unlike an end virtue, such as Charity or Love, they are means virtues, or means to an end. While they represent indispensable tools for doing what is right, they can also be employed for evil ends. Machiavelli had prudence, as did Stalin. Terrorists can display a true but horrible form of courage. Self-discipline can be exercised for the sake of the ego alone. Even justice can be perverted into an equitable approach for crushing dissent.
However, when these virtues are directed at Love and placed in the service of others, they provide the essential means for living an ethical, Level 3 life.
Prudence is the primary Cardinal Virtue – the cardinal of cardinals. The other three are virtues of the will; you can bring them to bear in a situation primarily through your mere willingness to do so. But prudence is a virtue of the mind; it can be defined as “the perfected ability of right decision-making.” It is all about seeing and understanding what is good (or true, or fair, or necessary, etc.), either through your own personal insight or by following a trusted source of wisdom, such as Scripture.
Old Names and New NamesBecause the meaning and connotation of words evolve over time, the Cardinal Virtues each have a classical name as well as a more contemporary name.
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Without prudence, it is hard to judge what is fair, or when courage will lead to a positive or a negative result (which battles to pick). Prudence tells you what types and occasions of self-control will bear good fruit, and which amount to little more than compulsion or a distraction from higher things (“No, I can’t drive you to the hospital. That’s my daily hour for jogging.”) Since prudence isn’t a virtue we can exercise without study or support, it requires a commitment to lifelong learning and daily reflection.
Courage is often equated with physical bravery or the ability to overcome fear with passionate determination. More often, though, it reflects a peace of mind that arises from an internal conviction in the nobility of our cause or principles. This peace allows us to overcome peer pressure to acquiesce in wrongdoing, and to speak up even when we have reason to fear retaliation or humiliation. It allows us to admit mistakes, defend others who are being unfairly maligned or marginalized, and even to take difficult actions, such as resigning from a job, rather than do or support something wrong.
As mentioned above, you need prudence to know how to apply courage to a specific situation, and to judge when your hesitation to act is rooted in fear or good sense. For example, it may take courage to criticize an unjust act in front of an audience, but in some situations, a public rebuke may be the worst way to get that action reversed.
You can’t say yes to others and to higher-level pursuits if you can’t say no to your own temptations and desires that conflict with Level 3 goals. The virtue of self-control doesn’t only prevent domination by pleasure or egotism; it also provides the discipline needed to master skills as well as other virtues. It takes discipline to control emotions like anger and arrogance; to pause and question your own motives; and to overcome dejection when plans go awry. It takes self-control to remind yourself to look for the good in others when it’s so much easier to focus on their flaws.
Fairness can be simply defined as giving the other his due. It is the desire to provide people with proper compensation and credit for their work, and to ensure a balanced and equitable relationship between activities done and rewards or penalties received. The figure of Justice is customarily blindfolded to convey impartiality. That’s because we’re powerfully tempted to unfairly favor our friends and allies and shortchange strangers and competitors.
In organizations, fairness is the cornerstone of empathy. You can’t build a constructive Level 3 culture if people perceive that fairness is being violated. (“Times are tough, so we’re cutting pay by 10%. We reached this decision last week at our management retreat in Bermuda.”)
The Cardinal Virtues are mutually reinforcing, and it’s not unusual to find yourself in situations where all four must work in concert. For example, in a meeting aimed at making a big decision, you might need fairness to balance the interests of all stakeholders affected by the decision; courage to point out a serious problem that everyone else is choosing to ignore; self-control to avoid getting angry at someone who is pushing your buttons; and prudence to see the truth of the situation and to know just when and how to apply these other virtues.
Conversely, just as it only takes one flat tire to stop a car, the absence of any one of the virtues can undermine your entire Journey to Excellence. That’s why it pays to keep all four in mind, as well as in practice, because practice is what makes a virtue habitual and reliable.
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Last changed: Apr 21 2010 at 12:58 PM