Virtues as a resilience factor in the human pursuit for happiness

In the light of Aristotle’s thought, happiness is the supreme good of the human being, but this supreme good is somehow precarious. Human beings are permanently exposed to the vicissitudes of life and these can prevent an individual who has been virtuous all his or her life from achieving happiness. This does not mean, however, that happiness can be reversed by any setback. It is the nature of the virtues to give human life a certain stability that cannot be reversed by the small misfortunes of everyday life. The practice of virtue endows human beings with an endurance or “resilience” that allows them to face moments of crisis without being diverted from their pursuit of happiness, as the supreme good for human life. In other words, the response to crisis cannot be improvised. Only those who have practiced virtue throughout their lives will be able to face times of trial. It is precisely in this sense that we can say that the virtues constitute an important factor of “resilience.” The idea that the virtues, or character formation, confer on human beings stability can be recognized in the various approaches to virtue ethics that have been proposed throughout the history of ethics, from Aristotle and the Stoics to contemporary approaches. For Alasdair MacIntyre, for example, the virtues are indispensable for individuals to be able to persevere in their pursuit of the good. Within this general framework, the present chapter aims to discuss to what extent the acquisition of virtues constitutes a factor of resilience, endowing each individual with a certain degree of “stability” in the face of life’s obstacles and adversities. Particular attention will be given to the approaches of Aristotle, Seneca, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Martha Nussbaum.