Yeah, sorry about that. I was shooting that comment off in a hurry, and didn't fully (or at all, really!) explain myself.
In a nutshell, this basic set of virtues (a.k.a. excellences) occur at a variety of levels: the virtues that come along with our individual material nature (which we only have "control" over in the sense that we chose this particular life when we were between incarnations, as Plato discusses in Republic book X), the virtues that we acquire through habit, various kinds of virtues that involve the intellect and rational choice, and finally the theurgic virtues that transcend the rational. At each of these levels, all four cardinal virtues of justice, temperance, courage, and wisdom reappear in a new guise.
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Date: 2021-11-07 12:56 am (UTC)In a nutshell, this basic set of virtues (a.k.a. excellences) occur at a variety of levels: the virtues that come along with our individual material nature (which we only have "control" over in the sense that we chose this particular life when we were between incarnations, as Plato discusses in Republic book X), the virtues that we acquire through habit, various kinds of virtues that involve the intellect and rational choice, and finally the theurgic virtues that transcend the rational. At each of these levels, all four cardinal virtues of justice, temperance, courage, and wisdom reappear in a new guise.
I could write a whole essay about this, but Michael Griffin has already done that, in his introduction to Olympiodorus' commentary on the Alcibiades; it's available free here: https://www.academia.edu/25871670/Olympiodorus_On_Plato_First_Alcibiades_10-28_Bloomsbury_Academic_2016_
I hope this helps at least a little bit!