Editing Open Sourcing the Virtues of a Perl Programmer (section)

=== Virtue, Vice, and the Long Tradition Behind Them ===

The language of virtue and vice belongs to several ancient traditions. Scriptural wisdom literature repeatedly distinguishes habits that lead toward a well-ordered and flourishing life from habits that lead toward disorder. In classical Greek philosophy, Aristotle gave one of the most influential systematic accounts of virtue, describing moral excellence as a stable disposition ordered by reason toward ''eudaimonia'' — human flourishing — and often situated between characteristic extremes of deficiency and excess.<ref name="Aristotle1999" />

Christian thinkers later received and developed this classical vocabulary. St. Thomas Aquinas integrated Aristotelian moral philosophy into a Christian account of the virtues, giving prudence a governing role because it applies right reason to action.<ref name="AquinasST" /> Other Christian writers emphasized how otherwise good powers can become distorted when separated from truth, right ends, or the other virtues. This language later appeared in many forms of civic and character education, including chivalric ideals and, much later, the Scout tradition.

The point here is not to claim a single unbroken historical chain for every virtue named in this paper. It is to identify a durable pattern: virtue concerns the good use of human powers. A capacity can be deficient, rightly ordered, or excessive. Courage can become cowardice through deficiency or recklessness through excess; prudence can collapse into shortsightedness on one side or endless deliberation on the other. The same pattern is useful when examining the habits celebrated within a programming community.