The Stoics believed that the only goal of a life well lived is to achieve arête, a term usually translated into English as virtue, but which is better understood as moral excellence. (This article uses the two interchangeably and assigns no religious element to either.) 

The highest good is the Stoic “recipe” for thriving in a world full of uncertainty.

I don’t think I need to convince you why it’s desirable to be a good person. I bet that just reading the phrase awakens images of kindness and helping others into your mind and there’s no debate that such actions are positive for the world at large. The Stoics shared the same opinion and placed great emphasis on acting in the interest of the greater good, but interestingly enough, they found another benefit for being virtuous, one that can be enjoyed by the honorable individual itself, rather than everyone else. 

Being virtuous allows you to have stability in a world full of chaos: you know that you can rely on yourself to do the right thing in any circumstance. It’s as if your moral compass were a lighthouse guiding you through a stormy sea. Being able to rely on yourself to do the right thing might too abstract to be valuable to you right now, but as anyone who has struggled with a dilemma can tell you, if you are not committed to acting morally, the sheer number of possible actions you could take (and their outcome) is enough to drive anyone crazy. Having the confidence that you behaved justly eliminates all the stress of having bad things happen to you if you cut ethical corners. In other words, come what may, you will be ready to face it with the same tools you used against the original problem.

From a Stoic perspective, no matter how good of a person you are, you cannot achieve moral excellence without striving to fulfill your potential.

With the ethical aspect out of the way, there is another important side of arête that is worth mentioning. The Stoics believed that living a virtuous life implies striving to be the best possible version of yourself. In this context, this means reaching your full potential. Why is this linked to moral excellence? Let’s look at the example of Bob. 

Bob loved to draw ever since he was a kid and would spend every waking minute doodling, if left to his own devices. As his style matured, everyone who saw his drawings was moved by their expressiveness and his art teachers encouraged him to apply to art school, which he did. Unfortunately, even though he was admitted to a great school, his parents couldn’t afford to send him there. Bob decided that he would defer his admission for a year and would work his butt off at the local grocery store until he could save enough to cover the first year of his tuition. He would then go to school during the day and find a job as a bartender in the evenings to cover the rest of his costs. Was it Bob’s fault that he is in this situation? No, that’s just the random set of cards that the Universe dealt him. Did he approach his circumstances with resourcefulness and resilience by focusing on what was in his power to do to achieve his goal? Absolutely!

To be clear, I’m not saying this is the optimal solution in this situation (that’s a different discussion), but it highlights Bob’s motivation to fulfill his destiny of becoming an artist, which shows that he is committed to living a virtuous life, in the Stoic sense of the word. Moral excellence is a matter of everyday courage, of braving the boring middle on your way to self-realization, not a call to doing something heroic once and then never again. It would be much easier to check off the righteousness box once, then having to do so repeatedly, but then no character building would occur. 

The perfectly virtuous person is an ideal and since we are humans (and thus flawed), we will never truly reach it. But you have to ponder the possibility of your best self in order to have something to aspire to and to use that as a guide to where you’re going. 

Stoicism proposes four elements - the 4 cardinal virtues (notice the plural!) - as essential ingredients for achieving virtue (notice the singular!). Let’s discover them one by one.

What are the 4 Stoic cardinal virtues and what is their meaning?

You can think of the four cornerstones of Stoicism as guidelines for character building. As Massimo Pigliucci notes in his “Stoic Guide to a Happy Life”, they are not independent, but rather they reinforce each other in a kind of flywheel of excellence. In other words, pursuing one makes it easier to achieve the others also. They are: justice, courage, temperance and wisdom. These are their modern names and it’s worth mentioning their Latin and Ancient Greek counterparts, in case you ever encounter them in the classical texts. There’s no need to remember these - I’m mentioning them just in case you were curious.

What are the 4 Stoic virtues called in Latin and in Ancient Greek?

To better make sense of these virtues, let’s examine each of them separately.

The Stoic Virtue of Justice or How to Be Fair

When we use the word “justice” today, we mostly do it in relation to a legal code and we immediately think of courts and trials when we do so. For the Stoics, however, the term was not limited to the justice that is enforced by the legal system, but rather to moral justice as it refers to treating other people fairly and respecting their dignity as human beings. In order to practice the virtue of justice, one must not only abide by the law and be morally righteous, but also be kind to others and treat them impartially. More importantly, it also implies always acting in the service of the greater good. Remember the words of Marcus Aurelius: 

“What’s bad for the hive is bad for the bee.”

-- Marcus Aurelius

This last one warrants a caveat: when acting for the greater good, remember to always understand the problem you are trying to solve to the best of your ability before deciding what to do. It’s far too often that people consider that their job is done if they have good intentions and stop there. When things turn badly, they console themselves with the fact they tried not to be evil, but sometimes these good intentions hide a sea of indifference. Results matter more than intentions. You’ll see it in the face of those you manage to help, as opposed to those you just “wish well” to. 

So my advice is this: to live a morally excellent life, always try your absolute best, for it is only then that the outcome is no longer up to you and you can be absolved and not a second sooner.

The Stoic Virtue of Courage or How to Behave in the Face of Danger

There’s nothing quite like danger to bring out weakness of character in people, and the Stoics recognized that we all have evolutionary impulses that might push us to behave immorally. The virtue of courage is the one that allows the Stoic student to use rationality to avoid these moral pitfalls whenever they arise. It’s important to note that what is meant by “courage” is not only the attribute used to describe the attitude of a soldier defending his country. It describes, in equal measure, the quality of a single mother working two jobs she hates to put her children to school as well as any other act of everyday bravery. In the words of Seneca:

“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”

-- Seneca

In this context, practicing the virtue of courage means making the tough decisions at the crossroads of your life, and also making them preemptively when you are leading others - when nobody else senses the danger in the distance. 

(Of course, in all circumstances, you’d be making the morally sound decisions - that goes without saying.)

The Stoic Virtue of Temperance or How to Maintain Balance

The third Stoic virtue is the virtue of temperance, which invites us to maintain balance in all things and to practice self-control. Just as it is healthy to take a break from junk food once in a while and eat fruits and veggies, it is morally sound to not overindulge in certain behaviors. At its core, the virtue of temperance strengthens us in our fight with the hedonic treadmill.

 (Isn’t it remarkable how the Ancients could put their finger on these universal human drives and expose them as contemptible?)

As Seneca wisely advises: 

“Pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments.”

-- Seneca

So resolve to do everything in moderation; in this way you will never find yourself trapped by the things that give you pleasure. You’ll avoid all sorts of addictions (to things and to feelings) that will rob you of your independence and free-will and you’ll be better equipped to prioritize long-term wellbeing over fleeting desires.

To practice the virtue of temperance, set limits for yourself in what you are allowed to do. Start simple at first - decide on a limit to how many sweets you’re gonna eat this week, then level up to balancing every complaint with a grateful thought. Not only will you strengthen your character, but you will also be happier when you notice you’ve avoided the sorrows that come from excess.

The Stoic Virtue of Wisdom or How to Put Everything in its Rightful Category

I’ve saved the best for last, to reward you if you’ve read this far! 

OK, to be fair, there’s no hierarchy in the 4 Stoic virtues, so “the best” is subjective in this case, but this one is the most important in my opinion because it ties in with another fundamental Stoic concept: the Dichotomy of Control (if you want to learn more about it, you can do so from the free exclusive e-book I give to everyone who signs up to the Stoic Optimizer newsletter!)

The virtue of wisdom refers to the ability to correctly compartmentalize every aspect of life: everything is either up to us, not in our control or indifferent. Assigning each item to its rightful bucket is not as easy as it looks and takes a lifetime of practice. Only the true sage manages to separate things without error. 

As Epictetus said: 

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own.”

Epictetus

Wisdom also implies knowing what is good and bad for us and for others and acting accordingly. But what about the “indifferents”? 

The Stoics used the term to talk about the things which do not impact our ability to live a good life. They recognized that some of them are preferred indifferents, which means that while unnecessary for attaining virtue, having them makes the rollercoaster ride of existence a bit more enjoyable. This includes being in good health, not struggling with poverty, finding a loving partner etc. 

The virtue of wisdom is the one that relies most on rationality, and thus the one that humans alone can achieve, since reason is what separates us from all other creatures. As such, striving for it is not only a moral duty, but also an opportunity to experience our human condition in its entirety. 

This post is part of a series about Stoic concepts. If you want to learn more about the main tenets of the philosophy, you might want to read the one about Amor Fati or Premeditatio Malorum next. You'll probably also want to discover the 3 Stoic disciplines and how they relate to the virtues.

If you are curious about the similarities and differences between Stoicism and Virtue Ethics, I recommend you check out this post.