Nicomachean Ethics

After this we must make a new start and state that there are three forms of character traits to be avoided: vice, incontinence, and beastliness. The contraries of two of these are clear: for we call the one virtue and the other continence. To beastliness, however, it would be most appropriate to oppose a virtue that is above us, a heroic and divine sort of virtue, just as Homer has Priam say of Hector that he was exceedingly good, “and he did not seem to be the child of a mortal man, but of a god.” So that if, as they say, men become gods through an excess of virtue, such a state would clearly be that which is opposed to the beastly state. For just as there is neither vice nor virtue of a beast, so there is none of a god, but the state of a god is more honorable than virtue, and that of a beast is some other kind than vice. And since a divine man is rare—just as the Laconians are accustomed to say, when they admire someone exceedingly, “he is a divine man”—so too the beastly person is rare among men; he is found mostly among barbarians, but some such states also come about through disease and mutilation; and we also use this as a term of abuse for those who exceed other men in vice. But about this kind of disposition we must make some mention later, and about vice we have spoken before; but we must speak about incontinence, softness, and luxury, and about continence and endurance. For we must not conceive of either of these two states as being the same as virtue and vice respectively, nor yet as belonging to another genus. We must, as in other cases, set down the observed facts and, after first raising difficulties, in this way prove, if possible, all the common opinions about these passions, or, if not all, at least the most numerous and most important. For if the difficulties are resolved and the common opinions are left standing, the proof will have been sufficient. Now, both continence and endurance seem to belong to the class of things that are serious and praiseworthy, while incontinence and softness belong to the class of things that are base and blameworthy. And the same person is thought to be continent and ready to abide by his calculation, and incontinent and ready to abandon his calculation. And the incontinent person, knowing that what he does is base, does it because of passion, while the continent person, knowing that his appetites are base, does not follow them because of his reason. And some say that the temperate person is continent and enduring, while others say that such a person is always temperate and some say not; and some say that the intemperate person is incontinent and the incontinent intemperate, confusing them, while others say they are different. And about the practically wise person, some say that it is not possible for him to be incontinent, while others say that some who are practically wise and clever are incontinent. Further, people are said to be incontinent also with respect to anger, honor, and gain. These, then, are the things that are said.