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The virtuous person is able to determine what is truly conducive to his well-being and what is not.
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Steven M. Nadler |
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His freedom consists precisely in the fact that the adequate cause of what he thinks, what he desires, and what he does lies within him, namely, his adequate ideas and his power of persevering.
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Steven M. Nadler |
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Thus, Spinoza can say that while good and evil will remain relative to some standard, the standard itself is not relative to just anyone's conception of what the good life is but is in conformity with human nature itself.
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Steven M. Nadler |
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It is a life guided by reason and based in knowledge and understanding, where an individual does only what is truly useful for himself but also aids others in their own pursuit of perfection. The resulting moral philosophy is virtue-oriented. What matters most is not the actions that one performs, or even the intentions that one has, but above all the kind of person one is and the character one possesses.
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Steven M. Nadler |
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Thus, our ordinary approach to labeling natural things as 'perfect' or 'imperfect' derives "more from prejudice than from true knowledge of those things."
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Steven M. Nadler |
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The more each one strives, and is able, to preserve his being, the more he is endowed with virtue
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Steven M. Nadler |
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It is only when one can transform oneself from this forlorn condition of passivity to something like an active and self-sufficient existence that one can claim to be free, happy, and, ultimately, blessed.
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Steven M. Nadler |