Revision summary
Aristotle’s moral virtue is a stable habit of the mean, learned by practice. Courage, temperance, and justice are civic virtues an officer must show in files, not only in speech. Phronesis is practical wisdom that finds the right mean in a live case. Administration applies this as honest noting, fiscal restraint, and equal treatment. Office culture can train vice; example and rules can still rebuild the mean.
Model answer
Introduction
Aristotle treats virtue as a stable habit of choosing the mean between excess and defect. Administration needs that habit in courage, temperance, justice, and practical wisdom.
Body
Aristotelian virtues
- Moral virtue, for Aristotle, is a disposition acquired by practice, not a single good mood on a good day.
- Each virtue sits as a mean: courage between cowardice and rashness, and temperance between indulgence and numbness.
- Justice is giving each person their due in distribution and in correction, which is the civic face of virtue.
- Phronesis, or practical wisdom, is the intellectual virtue that sees the right mean in a concrete case.
- Happiness, eudaimonia, is activity of the soul in accordance with virtue over a full life, not a private thrill.
Application in administration
- An officer’s courage is filing an honest note against pressure, not theatrical defiance that wrecks a working office.
- Temperance is restraint with public money, gifts, and patronage, which maps onto conduct rules and fiscal propriety.
- Justice is equal treatment in a licence, a relief list, and a posting, which is Article 14 in daily files.
- Practical wisdom is choosing the lawful option that actually helps the weakest claimant, not the option that only looks strict.
- A vicious office culture trains the opposite habits; training and example can still rebuild the mean.
Flow diagram
Conclusion
Aristotelian virtue is a practised mean guided by practical wisdom. In administration it appears as measured courage, clean habits with money, equal dealing, and judgement that serves the due of each person.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Distinguish between moral responsibility and role (ex-officio) responsibility in the life of a public servant.
Next question in the 2025 paper (Q4). View answer →
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Is the mean always a midpoint?
No. Aristotle’s mean is what is fitting in the case, not a mechanical half of two extremes.
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Does virtue replace the rule book?
No. Virtue helps an officer use the rule book well. It does not authorise a personal shortcut around law.
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