To drive the point home strongly let me tell you what I'm currently reading about Aristotle's moral typology. Aristotle describes one type of person, which he calls the
Vicious, that fails moral development. There are three traits of the Vicious; a person who has only two of the three traits can still be saved, but someone who has all three is simply incorrigible.
- They are motivated by base passions.
- They are stubborn and refuse to learn. In particular, they are impervious to shame, which according to Aristotle is an essential part of moral education.
- They have wrong concept about virtues: they think they are virtuous when everyone can see they are depraved. What's more, they are apt to redefine virtues, calling their own cruelty "benevolence" and their cowardice "prudence", for example.
If that describes somebody familiar, it is not a coincidence. Rather, this is a testament of the constancy of human nature. We should be thankful that men (and a few women) have sorted it out for us hundreds or thousand years ago, so each generation would not have to start the project anew, and can instead focus their effort in figure out their own particular situations.