In the previous chapter, “Principles and Habits,” the author repeatedly states the importance of developing both good habits and good principles. The author gave literal definitions of the words habit and principle, but he didn’t distinguish what made a particular habit “good” or “bad.” Perhaps the author intends the reader to know implicitly what he means by good and bad. It seems that the author takes this knowledge for granted, especially since he uses the Bible as the basis for his ideas, and at the time, the ideas in the Bible were very commonly known. It is made clear in the Bible what is good and what is evil, but anymore, not everyone reads the Bible or is religious.
So, I believe it is necessary to establish a more concise definition of what is meant by good habits and good principles. As stated in the last chapter, principles are the foundation for which behaviors are enacted, and habits are formed by repeated behaviors. We have to make certain judgments about what could be considered a good behavior and a bad behavior. So, we have to discuss morality in general.
Morality is the key to understanding temptations, virtues, vices, integrity and principles. To establish a definition for these terms, we first have to recognize that they all have moral implications: Virtue and integrity are inherently good, temptation and vice are inherently bad. Principles can be either good or bad depending on the morality of a person, and habits reinforce whatever principles and beliefs are held by that person.
Humans have pondered morality for millennia and there’s no way that I can go over the whole history of moral thinking here, but suffice it to say, there are certain beliefs and habits that lead one either to the development of virtues and integrity, or to temptations and vices. It is safe to say that any belief or behavior that leads one to vices can be considered bad behavior and any action that embodies virtue is good behavior.
Virtues are traits and qualities that represent high moral standards. The Greeks established what are known as the 5 cardinal virtues which are: wisdom, moderation/temperance, bravery, justice and piety. These 5 traits supposedly are what helped people to live full and meaningful lives. As is commonly known with Socrates, wisdom and knowledge took precedence over everything. Those virtues were his mantra. Socrates believed that one who had the knowledge of good and bad could only choose to do good. Anyone who was bad or performed evil deeds was somehow unaware that what they were doing was wrong. Of course, this is highly debatable, but it does provide some indication that one who strives to be virtuous does so by doing what is known to be morally right. Virtues therefore serve as a means to steer one away from temptation and vice.
What Socrates says about knowledge can still apply to today, but I have an argument against his line of thinking. Imagine that you know that you are doing something that is bad for you, say smoking cigarettes. You know that they are bad for your health, yet you choose to smoke them anyway. That means that every time you smoke a cigarette, a conflict is created within you where you believe two opposite things to be true. Smoking serves your habits and if you don’t smoke you’ll have withdrawal, which is bad and something that is avoided. But by avoiding the discomfort of withdrawal, you perpetuate the habit of smoking, which ultimately destroys your body. The conflict that this creates is called cognitive dissonance and it has to do with the fact that there is knowledge that the behavior being engaged in is wrong and bad for one’s health. When cigarettes were commercialized in the 20th century, no one knew the extent of the damage they could cause. Not knowing better meant that it wasn’t necessarily viewed as a bad thing. But now, we know better. There are warning labels on every pack that clearly state the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes. So, despite having knowledge of the harmful effects, why would anyone still consider smoking them? Socrates would say that they don’t truly have knowledge that what they are doing is harmful. Whether it’s by denial or by the fact that the person consuming them isn’t sick from them yet, the fact remains that it would be impossible not to understand the danger.
To conclude this example, it could be said that anyone who pursues something that is harmful to their health with the knowledge of that harm is captured by a vice and is therefore the opposite of virtuous. Does that mean that the person is entirely unvirtuous? Not necessarily, but that depends on what exactly is being done. One could argue that a person who moderates their cigarette smoking is employing the virtue of temperance, but the fact remains that any cigarette smoking is harmful and therefore is a completely unvirtuous behavior. It is difficult to always discern what is truly moral, but in this case I have made the argument that anything that does harm either in the short term or long term is unvirtuous and therefore lacks elaborate moral consideration. I am also well aware that nothing is ever so cut and dry. Moral ambiguities and gray areas exist in many circumstances, and it can be hard to know what the moral thing to do is. That being said, those who do their best to stick to moral foundations have the benefit of developing a sense of integrity.
Integrity essentially means a strong base. To be integral is to be an important and necessary part of something. To have integrity means to have a strong moral base from which there is no deviation. The best example is a person who always follows through with what they say they are going to do, and usually promptly. Integrity includes consistency and therefore, reliability. Integrity can be seen as a virtue in itself because it embodies determination, dependability, and reliability. Integrity is essential to the development of good habits and good principles. Habits and principles that have integrity are therefore virtuous; they serve a higher standard of morals. Habits and principles imbued with integrity therefore help to prevent an individual from succumbing to baseless pleasures, temptations, and vices.
We can now finally say that good principles and good habits are formed by striving for higher moral standards and doing so is virtuous. Repeatedly choosing virtuous actions (good habits) allows one to develop an integrity that will help to protect one from temptation and vice. The development of virtue can come from studying the Bible or ancient philosophy, but the best examples are parents who act in a virtuous and principled manner. The author uses Bible scripture to aid in the development of good habits and good principles, but besides using the Bible, the foundation for good principles and good habits are implied.
Let’s now take a look at The 10 Commandments in the Old Testament, because they are the quintessential guide for the development of good habits and good principles. The Commandments are essentially known to all people and are a part of the three major religions in the world. They are as follows:
I am the Lord your God and you shall not have any others before me
Thou Shalt not have any other creators (idols)
Thou shalt not take thy Lord’s name in vain
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy
Honor thy Father and Mother
Thou shalt not murder
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor
These rules are inherent in the author’s beliefs and he holds these to serve as the key rules that help to create proper principles. Like I said previously, there are some commandments that non-religious people can agree should be upheld like that of not murdering, not stealing, not cheating or lying, and not being envious. Those rules alone are essentially enough to keep one out of trouble, but those rules alone do not provide the spiritual foundation that all people need in order to live meaningful lives.
What does it mean to have a spiritual life and how does that guide one towards the creation of better principles? Essentially, all people need to have faith in something. They have to have something to believe in, even if that belief is the denial of faith. We all need something to provide us with values and structure. Without some kind of order, everything is chaos and no one can sustain an existence entirely within chaos (at least not for very long). In many cases, faith is found through religion, and religion has specific rules that give it structure. Though seemingly arbitrary, all order is necessarily arbitrary. That’s what gives it structure—clearly defined proportions and boundaries. Boundaries that are also clearly defined and stated in the Bible.
Besides the 10 Commandments, we have other rules and laws that keep our society civil and orderly. Following our law code can also help us to develop good principles but again, our law code alone does not provide any deeper inner meaning which gives each individual life purpose. It is faith and belief that gives life personal meaning and that faith and belief must be subjected to an analysis of what is considered right and wrong. It is this sense of morality that is implied in the creation of good principles and good habits.
There are many implied ideas and concepts within morality, but the main idea that is important to know is the idea of seeking the highest value. What is of highest value is essentially likened to God, and therefore of highest moral quality. It is what is considered most important and to make that decision takes careful consideration. It requires a judgment to be made about what seems to be most meaningful in life. Different people have different ideas and interests, but there are some aspects of life that are intrinsic and meaningful to all people above and beyond our own particular interests.
One example is family. We are all born of two parents—a union of opposites. It is our parents’ role to guide us and instill within us their understanding of life. This is no small task, in fact, it is one of life’s greatest tasks. Parents who fail this task are those who have not decided or have not found what should be most important in their lives. To be a good parent, is to be someone who is capable, selfless, creative, and most importantly, grounded within good principles.
What makes for good principles in regards to parenting? Self-development is a good place to start. By self-development, I’m not talking about selfish or superficial improvements, I am talking about knowing the proper sacrifices to make in order to be the best version of oneself (essentially the development of integrity). To consider family as one’s highest value, is to also know (or learn) what sacrifices must be made to align with that value. The sacrifices made by the parents ultimately speak of their character, and it is their character that creates the foundation for their principles.
This is where virtue comes in. I already mentioned some personality traits: capable, selfless, and creative. Those traits can all be considered virtuous because of the inherent good qualities that they produce. Virtues are imbued with moral standards. They are created based on a decision of something being right. We can say that determination is a virtue because it has the quality of steadfastness which means that the person who holds this virtue completes what they start. How they use this quality makes a world of difference. A person determined to raise a proper family is different from a person determined to gratify their base desires. This is where a moral decision is made. One can say that it is right to want to raise a family because it represents the course that all life had to take before. It not only satisfies base urges, it gives people a sense of purpose and a feeling that what they are doing is important. And how important it is! If it were not for the urge to raise a family, none of us would even be alive. It is the right thing to do for many reasons, and thus embodies a sense of virtuousness.
The opposite of virtue is vice. Vices are material conditions that hamper and limit the ability to grow and mature. Vices lead to bad habits whose only purpose is short-term gratification of the senses. We know vices to be a bad or improper thing, hence why in our modern society, people are so desperately trying to normalize them to avoid feeling the sense of shame and guilt that is supposed to be associated with bad behavior.
Temptation is the path to vice. It is the initial draw towards bad behavior. It starts when a child learns that they can get away with bad behavior. It may start out as lying—little white lies—that eventually turn into all out manipulation to achieve particular goals without actually having to do the work. Temptation exists as curiosity, and curiosity isn’t a bad thing. However, a lack of knowledge for what is good and what is bad can make curiosity dangerous in many situations. A young boy who catches a glimpse of a nude woman may generate a spark of curiosity that later turns into a porn addiction. In 1850, the only way a young boy could see a nude woman was if he peeped through a window, but now, everyone has a window in their pockets: their smartphones. The average age that children discover pornography in America now is around 11 years old. A glimpse now can turn into a full blown porn habit very easily and very quickly. We’ll get more into the modern day aspects towards the end of the guide, but it is worth mentioning here as a relevant expression of temptation.
I have one more thing to add about these definitions and how moral decisions are made. Like I said earlier, it can be incredibly difficult to discern right from wrong because of varying circumstances for any given situation. There are some things that are more or less absolute, but many things are not. In those situations, the best that one can do is to follow their own conscience. We do have an innate sense of what is right and what is wrong and, more specifically, what is the right thing or the wrong thing for us to do. Some people are oblivious to their own conscience, some are mentally ill and can’t properly engage with their conscience, and others can’t ignore their conscience no matter what. Sometimes, we spring into action because we know it’s the necessary thing to do. A good measure against temptation is to consult one’s own conscience. If you allow yourself an honest question, you will get an honest answer, and that answer is your conscience guiding you towards better decisions. The answer that you get is actually your conscience that is guiding you toward better decisions and towards self-development.
It is unknown how conscience actually works or where it comes from (much like consciousness itself), but it is nonetheless an important feature of personality that strives not only for survival, but the amplification of the most harmonious conditions. The most harmonious condition essentially guarantees survival. Conscience tells us when conflict is necessary, when it is appropriate to spring to action, when it is appropriate to deny oneself for the sake of something greater, and most importantly, steers one away from temptation. Socrates was noted for always following what his conscience told him, and it is what helped him develop his own personal philosophy, a philosophy that is still known, taught, and practiced today in the search of a meaningful and enriching life.
I wouldn’t even call the work done here as the tip of the iceberg. There are so many arguments that can be made one way or the other and so many nuances that are left unaccounted for, but I think I have at the very least accomplished the goal of creating some understanding of what William Simonds means when he talks about the development of good principles, good habits and good manners.