When I think of being worthy of praise, I think about somebody who does something; not somebody who does nothing. In this case, I am tempted to say that the man who has to refrain from cursing and succeeds is more worthy of praise.
I say this because after stubbing his toe, he instinctively wants to curse. However, he makes the decision that it is not appropriate and then uses his will power to hold himself back. This man has just done something; refrained from cursing.
The virtuous man stubs his toe and then thinks about the pain. The thought of cursing never enters his mind. Both men have to deal with the pain, but the virtuous man never has to deal with forcing himself to not curse. It seems to me that since the virtuous man did less, he is less worthy of praise.
Now, if we were asking ourselves who is more worthy of praise as an individual, I would say the virtuous man. I think this is pretty obvious. However, that wasn't the question.
I'm sure this is going to cause some people to want to prove me wrong. So go ahead, I would like to be enlightened.
I agree and see where Mr. Eldridge is coming from. The virtuous man is definitely worthy of praise. Although, im sure there are many who would disagree.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if we can really say which man deserves more praise. Clearly the man who refrained from cursing deserves to be commended. He seems to be putting in more effort that the virtuous man. However, i think it's easy to loose sight of how the virtuous man became virtuous.. perhaps he once struggled to refrain from curing as well? Maybe they deserve praise for different reasons?
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