Definition of Moral Virtue

147 Pages·1986·5.706 MB·English

by  Yves R. Simon

THE DEFINITION OF
MORAL VIRTUE
YVES R. SIMON
Edited by Vukan Kuic
THE DEFINITION OF
MORAL
VIRTUE
Yves R. Simon
Edited by
Vukan Kuic
New York
Fordham University Press
1986
© Copyright 1986 by Fordham University Press
All rights reserved.
lc 85-80404
ISBN 0-8232-1144-4
First edition 1986
Reprinted 1989
Printed in the United States of America
Contents .
Editor’s Preface vii
Yves R. Simon (1903—1961): A Bio-Bibliography ix
Marie-Vincent Leroy, o.p.
1. Modern Substitutes for Virtue 1
Natural Goodness 2
Social Engineering 8
Psycho-technology 12
2. Clearing up Some Confusions 19
Nature and Use 19
Spontaneity and Reason 29
Forms of Sociability 34
3. Further Necessary Distinctions 47
Habit 48
Habitus 55
Opinion 61
4. Virtue Is Not Science 69
Readiness 71
Disposition 79
5. The Definition of Moral Virtue 91
Traditional Moral Virtues 95
The Definition 104
How Do We Know Right from Wrong? 107
Virtue and Objectivity 111
6. The Interdependence of Virtues 125
Index 133
V
Editor’s Preface
i
This book has its origin in a course on “Virtues” given by Yves R. Si¬
mon in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago
in the fall quarter of 1957. Professor Simon’s lectures as well as his
extended replies to students’ questions were recorded on tape by Richard
Marco Blow, who later also arranged for the transcripts. Professor Simon
hoped to use this material either as part of his projected “Philosophical
Encyclopedia” or as a separate volume in a series of “Philosophical
Inquiries.” The onset of the illness that caused his death in 1961, how¬
ever, prevented him from working on the revision of the manuscript.
But he did suggest, in a marginal note, the title which it is here given.
In editing this book, I have relied on experience gained on two pre¬
vious such occasions as well as my life-long study of Simon’s thought,
which began with my taking six of his courses in political philosophy,
ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics at the University of Chicago from
1954 to 1956. Thus when in 1961 Paule Simon asked me if I would help
with the papers of her late husband, I was both eager and prepared. My
first job, The Tradition of Natural Law (1965), was relatively easy (in
retrospect) because the manuscript had been partially edited by Pro¬
fessor Simon himself. My second assignment was an unrevised transcript
of Simon’s course on “Work,” which required a considerably greater
measure of editorial effort. But having done it once before, I was able to
turn out a book that most reviewers praised as typically Simon’s. This
was Work, Society, and Culture (1971). In editing the present text I
have striven for the same effect.
Thus, as much as possible, I have preserved Simon’s speech as deliv¬
ered. But in transferring these lectures and class discussions to the
printed page, I have had to tighten the exposition in some places and
to interpolate in others. Because I consider these things an integral part
of an editor’s work, I have not cluttered the text with brackets or other
punctuation just to sort out words. I have taken the same approach
with regard to the footnotes. They are all numbered uniformly, even
though some of them have been added by me. In most cases, these are
just references to Simon’s other works. But I also cite writings by a few
other authors, dated after 1957, that lend special force to points made in
the text.
Vll
MORAL VIRTUE
While working on this project intermittently for several years, I have
enjoyed steady support from Paule Simon and from Anthony O. Simon,
who jointly continue to supervise these posthumous publications. I am
also indebted to Daniel Sabia for a careful reading of the penultimate
draft, and to Alasdair MacIntyre for his critical comments. Lori Joye and
Harriet Bradham competently and cheerfully typed and corrected the
manuscript, while Nicholas A. Rees helped with proofreading. I am
grateful to them all.
Finally, I would like to say a word about the content of this book.
What Simon does here on the subject of moral virtue is what he had
done so well before, on quite a number of other topics. He shows how
much better contemporary problems can be understood, and their
proposed solutions evaluated, if they are approached in the light of the
great teachings of the past. Modern prejudices against classical ethical
theories are certainly not free from misunderstanding born of impa¬
tience and pride of progress. Patient and conciliatory ih his approach,
Simon readily acknowledges the advances made in the understanding of
human experience since the time of Plato. But giving Marx or Freud
their due—or Hume or Rousseau—does not require taking proportion¬
ately away from Aristotle. Better than most contemporary philosophers,
Simon shows us how knowing exactly what the classics had to say enables
us to give that much more credit to the modem thinkers—where and
when they deserve it. As always, Simon is here also scrupulously fair
and at the same time original, simply because he knows his subject
so thoroughly. But I must let the reader find that out for himself or
herself. I can only wholeheartedly endorse what Willis D. Nutting wrote
in reviewing Work, Society, and Culture: “You will understand any
problem better if you can read something that Yves Simon has written
on it. ‘He never touched anything that he did not adorn.’ ”
VUKAN KUIC
University of South Carolina
Columbia
September 1985
viii
YVES R. SIMON (1903-1961)
A BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHY
Yves Simon was born at Cherbourg, France on March 14, 1903. As a
child he was afflicted for two years with tuberculosis in his bones, which
left him limping for the rest of his life. He became interested in philosophy
and the ideas and activities of the Christian Democratic movement from
the beginning of his studies, and in 1923, under the direction of Celestine
Bougie, he wrote a thesis on Charles Denoyer to obtain his diploma at the
Sorbonne. A year before, he had become a disciple of Jacques Maritain,
while also taking up the study of Proudhon’s social philosophy. Yet he
continued his formal education in the sciences and devoted four years
to the study of medicine. Returning again to philosophy, he obtained a
degree from the Institut Catholique in Paris in 1929, and began teaching
at the Universite Catholique at Lille in 1930. He became a professor in
1932, a post he retained until 1938. During this time, he also taught a
regular weekly course at the Institut Catholique in Paris, edited a series
Cours et Documents de Philosophie for the publishing house of Tequi,
and was the secretary of the Revue de Philosophie.
In 1934, Simon obtained his doctorate in philosophy at the Institut
Catholique in Paris, for which he wrote a dissertation entitled Introduc¬
tion a I’ontologie du connaitre. This was published in the same year in a
series called Bibliotheque francaise de philosophie, edited by Jacques
Maritain for Desclee De Brouwer, and was soon recognized as a classic
of contemporary Thomism. Matching the best works of Maritain and Gil¬
son by its depth, rigor, and clarity, this admirable book offers invaluable
help to all those who seek to understand the reality of knowledge. A re¬
print edition is available from Irvington Press in New York, and Richard
J. Thompson and Vukan Kuic have just completed work on a translation.
In another series, Questions disputees, edited for Desclee De Brouwer
by Charles Journet and Jacques Maritain, Simon published in the same
year yet another major work, a worthy companion of his dissertation, en¬
titled Critique de la connaissance morale. This is an excellent introduction
to the problems of practical knowledge, the scope and method of moral
An earlier version of this translation, by Vukan Kuic, appeared in The New
Scholasticism 54 No. 4 (Autumn 1980), 512-18. It originally appeared in Revue
Thomiste 79 No. 4 (October-December 1979), 691-93, and it has been brought
up-to-date in the present version.
IX
YVES R. SIMON
and political philosophy, and the nature of moral judgment. This book
has been long out of print, but an English translation has now been pre¬
pared by Vukan Kuic and will be published soon.
As time went by, Simon did not hesitate to apply the criteria of “moral
judgment” to actual political developments. In a lucid and courageous
book, La Campagne d’Ethiopie et la pensee politique frangaise (Lille,
1936; 2nd ed. Paris, 1937), he openly denounced various justifications of
fascism not just as rationalizations for inaction but as concrete threats to
peace both in France and in the world.
Simon’s next scholarly publication was Trois legons sur le travail,
which appeared in the series Cours et Documents de Philosophic in 1938.
Written in the limpid and economical style that had become his trade¬
mark, this monograph compresses in a relatively few pages an exposition
not only of the definition of work and the relation of work to wealth, but
also of the notion of a culture in which work would be a central value.
In the same year, Simon was invited to become a Visiiing Professor at
the University of Notre Dame, and he took his family with him. The out¬
break of war prevented their return, and so he stayed on as a member of
the Notre Dame faculty, while also lecturing at other institutions in the
United States, Mexico, and Canada. Thus in 1940, under the auspices of
the Aristotelian Society at Marquette University, Simon gave the annual
Aquinas Lecture, which was published as Nature and Functions of Au¬
thority. But he was also very much involved in practical political activities,
giving speeches, writing for newspapers, organizing conferences, and
broadcasting in support of the French Resistance and General de Gaulle.
He was called “the philosopher of the fighting French.” Indeed, in this
role of a philosopher engage, Simon also wrote several books, which are
still worth reading for their almost uncannily profound and prescient
analysis of events. La Grande Crise de la Republique Frangaise (Mon¬
treal: Editions de l’Arbre, 1941) was a commentary on the developments
that had led to the military defeat and its political consequences in France,
and it was immediately translated into English as The Road to Vichy,
1918—1938 (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1941). In 1942 appeared La
Marche a la delivrance (in a series edited by Jacques Maritain for Editions
de la Maison Frangaise in New York), published in English as The March
to Liberation (Milwaukee: The Tower Press, 1942). And finally, after
the liberation of France, Simon published Par dela l’experience du deses-
poir (Montreal: Lucien Parizeau, 1945) which, with the addition of
another chapter, was translated into English as Community of the Free
and published in New York in 1947 (Henry Holt). This book has just
been reprinted by the University Press of America (1984). It should be
x
BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHY
noted, however, that the fulfillment of these patriotic and civic duties did
not prevent Simon from continuing his work in the theory of knowledge,
as can be seen from publication in 1944 of a remarkable treatise entitled
Prevoir et savoir: Etudes sur Videe de necessity dans la pensee scientifique
et en philosophic (Montreal: Editions de l’Arbre).
Simon left Notre Dame in 1948 to join the Committee on Social
Thought chaired by John U. Nef at the University of Chicago. And even
though illness forced him to retire eleven years later, in 1959, this was in a
sense the most productive period in his life. In 1958 he was the recipient
of the Aquinas Medal bestowed by the American Catholic Philosophical
Association. He gave courses and seminars on a large number of topics
and wrote two especially important books. Based on his Charles R. Wal¬
green Foundation Lectures in 1950, he wrote what is perhaps his best-
known work, Philosophy of Democratic Government (University of Chi¬
cago Press, 1951). The significance of this systematic treatise on the
rational foundations of democracy, presented in the context of contem¬
porary ideas and problems, is indicated not only by its many editions but
also by its translations into Japanese, Korean, German, Portuguese,
Italian, and soon also French. And it so happened that in 1951, as in
1934, Simon saw once again a second major work of his published in the
same year. This second book, Traite du lihre arbitre, dealing with the
philosophy of liberty, was written in French and released under the im¬
print of the faculty of Sciences et Lettres at Liege and in 1952 by J. Vrin,
Paris. In 1957, it was translated into Italian. But the American version
did not appear until after his death. Freedom of Choice, edited by Peter
Wolff, was published by Fordham University Press in 1969, with a fore¬
word by Mortimer J. Adler. While not generally inclined to praise con¬
temporary philosophers, Adler eagerly testifies there that “this book is the
perfect antidote for the errors, misunderstandings—or worse, ignorances
—that beset the modern discussion of free choice.”
During his academic career, Simon also worked on translations of vari¬
ous works into either French or English. In 1951, he edited and translated
a collection of ten studies by different authors dedicated to an examina¬
tion of La Civilisation americaine (series Questions disputees [Desclee De
Brouwer, Paris]). He had become a naturalized American citizen in 1946,
and this was one way of showing his loyalty to his adopted country. More
important and significant, however, was his translation, in collaboration
with John J. Glanville and G. Donald Hollenhorst, of the major part of
the monumental treatise of John of St. Thomas, The Material Logic of
John of St. Thomas (with an introduction by Jacques Maritain [The Uni¬
versity of Chicago Press, 1955, 1965]).
XI
YVES R. SIMON
It was at Chicago that Simon also conceived an ambitious project
for an “Encyclopedia of Philosophy” of several volumes, in which he
wanted to treat a number of the most important problems of philosophy.
When he learned about the nature of his illness, he reduced this plan to a
series of “Philosophical Studies,” in which he intended to present the
material he had already prepared on a number of topics. But he ran out
of time, dying at the age of 58 at his home in South Bend, Indiana, on
Ascension Day, May 11, 1961. Thanks to the efforts of his friends and
former students, however, and especially of his widow, Paule Simon, the
publication of his works did not stop. A General Theory of Authority,
which he had almost finished before he died, appeared in 1962, with an
introduction by A. R. Caponigri (University of Notre Dame Press). In
this book, Simon elaborates on his earlier reflections regarding law and
authority and presents his mature views on authority as the principle of
the synthesis between order and freedom, not only in political contexts
but also in the pursuits both of truth and of moral excellence. After hav¬
ing been out of print for a while, this book is now again available in a
paperback edition by the same publisher but with a new introduction and
index prepared by Vukan Kuic (1980).
In 1965, Fordham University Press published The Tradition of Natural
Law: A Philosopher’s Reflections (edited by Vukan Kuic, with a fore¬
word by John H. Hallowell) dealing with the problems, history, and defi¬
nition of natural law. A Spanish translation was published in Madrid in
1968. Also in 1968, Freedom and Community appeared, edited and intro¬
duced by Charles P. O’Donnell (Fordham University Press). This volume
consists of two chapters from Community of the Free, an article from
the Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association
(1940), and three chapters based on lectures from a course given by
Simon at the University of Chicago in the spring of 1955.
In 1970, Magi Books of Albany, New York, published The Great
Dialogue of Nature and Space, edited and introduced by Gerard J. Dal-
court. As its subtitle tells us, this book deals with the great ideas of
mankind on the understanding of nature, time, space, and the philosophy
of science. The main comparison, however, is between the Aristotelian
philosophy of nature and the Cartesian notion of space, and the source
materials for the book illustrate nicely the remarkable continuity in
Simon’s philosophical work. The first seven chapters are derived from lec¬
tures in a course which Simon began at the University of Chicago in 1959,
but which he could not finish because of illness. The next two chapters are
adaptations of articles which had appeared in French in the 1930s. Chap¬
ter 8, “Philosophers and Facts,” had appeared in the Revue de Philosophic
xii