While virtue makes man choose the right ends, practical wisdom makes him choose the right means, but practical wisdom cannot exist independently of virtue. The power to attain an end, whether good or bad, is mere talent or cleverness, and is raised
While virtue makes man choose the right ends, practical wisdom makes him choose the right means, but practical wisdom cannot exist independently of virtue. The power to attain an end, whether good or bad, is mere talent or cleverness, and is raised above the level of roguery only by the presence of virtue. Just as practical wisdom implies moral virtue, moral virtue in the proper sense implies practical wisdom, and it is impossible to develop moral virtue without thorough training in practical wisdom.
A man may start life with a natural virtue (e.g.. a disposition to be just or temperate), but if this is unaccompanied by knowledge of the effects that various kinds of action are likely to have, this disposition can never become genuine moral virtue and remains wasteful or even dangerous. Thus, in its t