Practicing Virtue Will Definitely Make You Happier

On June 17, the Thomistic Institute hosted Dr. Andrew Abela at the Catholic University of America (CUA) for a lecture on virtue. Abela is the founding dean of the Busch School of Business and an Ordinary Professor of Marketing at CUA. He is also the author and editor of several books, most recently A Catechism for Business: Tough Ethical Questions & Insights from Catholic Teaching.

The lecture focused on the cultivation and application of virtue, specifically drawing from the Aristotelian tradition, as interpreted and expounded by St. Thomas Aquinas. Abela began by distinguishing virtue from being “generically good.” He said that to be a virtuous person means “so much more.” The first distinction, he explained, is that virtue is not a mere quality, but rather a set of “particular habits of excellence that include moral excellence,” but also encompass “human excellence in every dimension.” (READ MORE: In Defense of the Sacred Heart)

In this sense, Abela continued, virtue is not just “one more thing you have to do.” Although it may be challenging at first, the habituation of virtue is actually “much more practical than that.” He then referenced the acclaimed book by James Clear, Atomic Habits, and said it is part of a broader phenomenon he described as “a rediscovery of how powerful habits are at making your life better.” Of course, he clarified, the fact that virtues “actually make you happier” is something “we’ve known … since Aristotle,” but there has been a rediscovery of ancient wisdom in recent years, due to its helpful applicability to modern-day predicaments.

Nevertheless, the problem with recent scholarly works on the virtues, such as Romano Guardini’s Learning the Virtues and Bill Bennett’s The Book of Virtues, is that they all provide a different list, and even when there is overlap there is often disparity in precise definitions of what is actually meant by a virtue like “prudence.” “There’s no agreement on what the virtues are,” said Abela. “It’s almost as if any positive abstract noun can be a virtue.” For instance, two examples of non-canonical virtues that are commonly perceived as being some kind of “virtue,” in the loose sense, are “integrity” and “kindness.” Abela was critical of this trend, adding that “if there were an infinite list of possible virtues, then it’s not very helpful” to those who are genuinely interested in excellence.

The good news, he said, is that we already have an objective framework for understanding virtue that encompasses “all of human life.” It is none other than that of St. Thomas Aquinas, as found in his Treatise on Virtues. Abela explained that, unlike many modern treatments, Aquinas’ is constructed in a MECE fashion, which stands for “mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive.” In other words, “every part must be counted and only once,” he said. In the MECE approach, “there must be no gaps and no overlaps.”

St. Thomas disaggregates “human life into narrower and narrower … pieces,” said Abela, and “there is a virtue for every part of life.” In doing so, St. Thomas avoids overlap and leaves no gaps. He takes the cardinal virtues of antiquity as his starting point: justice, prudence, courage, and temperance. But he also adds the three theological virtues of Christianity: faith, hope, and love. Combined, these seven virtues — in addition to the intellectual virtues of science, art, wisdom, and understanding — are the basis for what Abela calls the “anatomy of virtue,” which provides a “fixed set” of habits that lead to excellence in every area of human life.

To illustrate this, Abela created a visual guide to St. Thomas’ treatise, which he graciously passed out during the lecture:

The visual shows not only how each of the cardinal virtues corresponds to different areas of human life, but it also includes all of the “sub-virtues,” or sub-habits, that lead to the cultivation of a perfect virtue like prudence or courage. This was one of the most important takeaways from Abela’s lecture — it is extraordinarily difficult to pursue all four of the cardinal virtues at once, given that each requires a long list of gradual habits in order to be fully cultivated, which is why it is always better to start with smaller steps, one habit at a time.

This is not to say that the different areas of human life are not interconnected, but that it is better to pursue excellence gradually, rather than abruptly and all at once. The latter alternative may easily lead to frustration and hopelessness, which St. Thomas considers a dangerous vice. When we lose hope, we simultaneously give up on the pursuit of every other virtue, and are thereby subject to all kinds of temptations, especially those related to pleasure and the passions. (READ MORE: The Holy Eucharist and the Hint of an Explanation)

This was Abela’s major recommendation as well, which he learned from reading St. Thomas. In an age of bountiful self-help resources with an extensive variety of (often contradictory) advice, St. Thomas — an intellectual giant of Western civilization and one of the greatest saints — may well be our best available resource.

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