6: Prudence Flashcards
It is also called the mother of all the virtues.
Prudence
is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason and it is one of the four Cardinal virtues.
Prudence
Prudence begins with an understanding of the first principles of practical reason, which St. Thomas Aquinas calls
synderesis
the object of these inclinations are
goods
since these goods are not outside the human person, but are aspects of the human person, they are called
human goods
It is basically good to be as a rational animal, created in the image and likeness of God, in the image of knowledge and love
Life
a life having the potential of self- expansion through knowledge and through love.
“cognitive” life
“All men by nature desire to know”. Knowing is a mode of existing.
Aristotle, Metaphysics
a kind of self-expansion.
Knowledge
This human person, who is fundamentally, intelligibly, and intrinsically good, desires to know ____ for its own sake.
truth
Man has, at the same time, a natural inclination to behold the _________, to see it, to intuit it, to contemplate it.
beautiful
The person who plays has the cognitive power of complete self-reflection, and so he contemplates the marvel of his own skills and delights in the awareness of their gradual perfection.
Leisure, Play, Art
The human person inclines to harmony between himself and others.
Sociability
the highest kind of friendship he seeks is
benevolent friendship
Man aspires after what is higher than himself because he is aware of a desire in him for perfect happiness.
Religion
Man is inclined to ________, to give himself completely to another, to belong to another exclusively in one flesh union.
Marriage
He is inclined to bring about a more intense unity within himself, namely harmony between his actions and his character as well as his will and his passions.
Integrity
accurate memory that is true to reality; an ability to learn from experience.
Memoria/Memory
an open-mindedness that recognizes variety and is able to seek and make use of the experience and authority of others.
Docilitas/Docility
The understanding of first principles.
Intelligentia
quick-wittedness or the ability to evaluate a situation quickly.
Sollertia/Shrewdness
Discursive reasoning and the ability to research and compare alternatives
Ratio/Reasoning
the capacity to estimate whether particular actions can realize goals
Providentia/Foresight
the ability to take all relevant circumstances into account.
Circumspection
the ability to mitigate risk
Caution
is one where the circumstances must be weighed to determine the correct action.
prudential judgment
A person not entirely pure of heart, that is, whose charity is very defective, will have more options before him, poorer options that nevertheless have some appeal.
Good Counsel (eubolia)
is an assent to good and suitable means.
Judgment
good common sense in making judgments about what to do and what not to do in ordinary matters
Synesis
refers to the ability to discern and apply higher laws to matters that fall outside the scope of the more common or lower rules that typically guide human action.
Gnome
