„TO ACT WELL” AND „TO LIVE WELL” – VIRTUES AS THE SOLID FOUNDATION OF HUMAN CONDUCT

Abstract

In our lives we always want to approach some good and the moral law itself indicates a particular way to achieve it (the purposefulness of action). This article focuses on the practical side of human existence by analysing the following questions: How an action may lead to achieving the good adequate only for the human being? What conditions enable us to live optimally and as fully as possible in accordance with the requirements of the moral law? In the interest of searching for answers to these questions, an analysis of virtues is undertaken understood as specific dispositions that not only direct a person to righteousness, but also determine certain imperatives of human action that should always be followed. The presented analysis guide to the conclusion that virtue allows not only to act well, but also to live well. Virtue is not a an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it becomes almost involuntary, yet a specific constant capability that addresses human action while engaging factors typical of a human being: consciousness, reason and free will. Such an approach to virtue reveals its rational dimension and thus shows the specificity of human action. Based on the personalistic view of human existence, it can be state that virtue is equated with the moral good and on that account helps to determine the objective meaning of action.