I think we can take this a little less literally. On the traditional Platonist ladder of virtues, all four of the cardinal virtues appear over and over again, at each of three (or 5, or 6, or 7) levels, each building on those that came before.
We start from the physical virtues (which are basically innate, but can be cultivated in some degree?), then the virtues of habit (this is the hook to "habituation" in the chapter here), and only then progressing to the virtues that are properly the provence of reasoning and philosophy.
So while it's certainly best if we've been building the proper habits from childhood, we're always either reinforcing old habits or inculcating new ones. So Sallustius' more general point—and that of the wider tradition—seems to be that good habits, and the character associated with them, set the stage for philosophical and theological reflection. The critical error, then, is to think that we can jump to theology without taking account of, and cultivating, that basic character.
("Habit" and "character" are, in Greek, both related to the ethos family of terms, from whence "ethics.")
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Date: 2021-11-03 08:56 pm (UTC)We start from the physical virtues (which are basically innate, but can be cultivated in some degree?), then the virtues of habit (this is the hook to "habituation" in the chapter here), and only then progressing to the virtues that are properly the provence of reasoning and philosophy.
So while it's certainly best if we've been building the proper habits from childhood, we're always either reinforcing old habits or inculcating new ones. So Sallustius' more general point—and that of the wider tradition—seems to be that good habits, and the character associated with them, set the stage for philosophical and theological reflection. The critical error, then, is to think that we can jump to theology without taking account of, and cultivating, that basic character.
("Habit" and "character" are, in Greek, both related to the ethos family of terms, from whence "ethics.")