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ARISTOTLE'S MORALS AND POLITICS 105
onesided view that Aristotle introduces his distinction.
It is not enough, he insists, to know what conduct is right;
we must be able to follow it; nor is it enough to follow it
blindly, we must know why it is that the course ofconduct
we are following is right, and why it is right to follow it.
The virtues of intellect depend upon such training of the
practical intelligence as will enable us to know what is
right, and why it is right; the virtues of character upon
such training of the emotions and passions as will enable
us to do what we know to be right In Aristotle's view,
the virtues of character are the first to be developed. It
gradually becomes apparent, however, to the reader of
the Ethics that, so far as the ordinary man is concerned,
the virtues of character are not only those which are
developed first, but the only virtues that arc ever developed.
The Formation of A Good Character. The procedure
recommended by Aristotle for the training of character
is as follows:
z. The passions and emotions are not, he points out,
in themselves either good or bad ; they are ethically neutral.
More specifically, they are the raw material from which
character is formed. For characters are good or bad according
to the nature of the acts in which they express themselves.
Now the nature of the acts we perform will depend
upon the nature of the ends we desire and value, and the
nature of the ends we desire and value will depend upon the
way in which our passions and emotions have been trained.
2. The object of training is, however, not merely to
make us feel rightly, desire rightly, and act rightly on a
particular occasion; training must aim at inculcating the
habit of so feeling, desiring and acting, with the conse-
quence that it becomes as natural to us to fed, desire,
and act rightly on all occasions as it is to breathe and to
sleep. The educator must, for .example, train a man in
habits of courage,, endurance and control so that he will
act bravely, suffer uncomplainingly, and conduct himself
with moderation without having to make up his mind,
Di