The Quest for Character: What the Story of Socrates and Alcibiades Teaches Us about Our Search for Good Leaders

Morality, then, has a clear and important biological function: to regulate communal living so that individuals within a group can survive and flourish.

As Curtler puts it, while the goal of moral virtue is to set the basic framework for ethical action and the construction of our character, the goal of intellectual virtue is to refine our character, to make it capable of dealing with life as adults.

For the Stoics, what distinguishes our species is the ability to reason and our high degree of sociality, from which it follows that we should spend our existence intent in using our mind to improve social living.

In general, arete has to do with the proper function of a thing and how well that function is carried out.

When Seneca, the first-century Stoic philosopher and adviser to the emperor Nero, wrote the words with which this chapter begins, “Virtue is nothing else than right reason,” he meant reason deployed to achieve the right ends, that is, a combination of moral and intellectual virtue.

This, then, according to Socrates, is the real problem with many politicians: They are fools, affected by a particular kind of ignorance—arguably best referred to as unwisdom—yet blinded by their own unwavering conviction that they actually know what they are doing.

Prudence (sometimes called practical wisdom), the ability to navigate complex situations in the best way possible. • Justice, understood as acting fairly toward others and respecting them as human beings. • Fortitude (or courage), encompassing endurance and the ability to confront our fears. • Temperance, the ability to practice self-restraint and to act in right measure.

Ethics or morality, in the ancient Greco-Roman sense, then, is what we do in order to live well together—the same problem faced by our primate cousins.

What, then, does work—empirically speaking—to improve our characters? Three strategies: the use of moral role models, conscious selecting of situations, and “getting the word out” (with ourselves).

Moral excellence, according to Aristotle, is the result of habit and repetition, though modern science would also suggest that it may have an innate, genetic component.

The ancient Greco-Romans focused on four so-called cardinal virtues, understood as character traits, or behavioral inclinations, that ought to be cultivated and used as a moral compass to navigate our lives.

• Prudence (sometimes called practical wisdom), the ability to navigate complex situations in the best way possible. • Justice, understood as acting fairly toward others and respecting them as human beings. • Fortitude (or courage), encompassing endurance and the ability to confront our fears.

• Temperance, the ability to practice self-restraint and to act in right measure.

While the word “virtue” comes from the Latin virtus, meaning specifically moral strength, the original Greek term was arete, which meant “that which is good” or, more succinctly, excellence.

In general, arete has to do with the proper function of a thing and how well that function is carried out.

For the Stoics, what distinguishes our species is the ability to reason and our high degree of sociality, from which it follows that we should spend our existence intent in using our mind to improve social living.

we should act virtuously because doing so helps us live “in accordance with nature,” meaning our nature as a particular biological species.

Morality, then, has a clear and important biological function: to regulate communal living

that individuals within a group can survive and flourish. It is interesting to note that the modern terms “ethics” and “morality” have revealing roots in this respect: the first one comes from the Greek êthos, a word related to our idea of character; the second one is from the Latin moralis, which has to do with habits and customs. Ethics or morality, in the ancient Greco-Roman sense, then, is what we do in order to live well together—the same problem faced by our primate cousins.

“Excellence [arete], then, being of two kinds, intellectual and moral, intellectual excellence in the main owes both its birth and its growth to teaching (for which reason it requires experience and time), while moral excellence comes about as a result of habit, whence also its name [ethike, meaning moral] is one that is formed by a slight variation from the word for ‘habit’ [ethos].”

Moral excellence, according to Aristotle, is the result of habit and repetition,

while the goal of moral virtue is to set the basic framework for ethical action and the construction of our character, the goal of intellectual virtue is to refine our character, to make it capable of dealing with life as adults.

“Virtue is nothing else than right reason,” he meant reason deployed to achieve the right ends, that is, a combination of moral and intellectual virtue.

Epictetus admonished his students, “Most of us dread the deadening of the body and will do anything to avoid it. About the deadening of the soul, however, we don’t care one iota.”17

he has no knowledge to be dispensed but only very tentative and often changeable opinions. People are confused about what they don’t know, not about what they have mastered.

Gnothi seauton (know thyself).

The danger is that Alcibiades will let himself be corrupted, and his soul turn ugly, by becoming a lover of the people, that is, a lover of adulation, fame, and glory.

Now, if one wishes to manage the affairs of the state in a good and admirable fashion, one must offer excellence to its citizens. And excellence—meaning arete, excellence of character, or virtue,

mindful experience: not just the passage of time and the accumulation of practical knowledge but also the habit of critically reflecting on one’s experiences and learning from them. One doesn’t become wiser just because one grows older.

Being a good leader has little to do with power or authority; rather, it has to do with moderation and justice.

The story is about the role individuals play in the unfolding of cosmic events as well as about flawed human nature.

the reference to the Oracle at Delphi and the fact that Oedipus ends up blinding himself are particularly telling: The protagonist of the myth fails to see what is in front of his eyes, and the reason for that, ultimately, is that he has not embraced the Delphic injunction: Know thyself.

when people act on the basis of what they think they know, more likely than not they will end up hurting themselves because in reality, they don’t have the understanding that is necessary to act well in life.

The ancient Greeks had a more nuanced view of love, recognizing four partially overlapping forms of it,

To begin with, there is agápē, which means love with an aspect of charity, in the sense of benevolence, embedded in it.

Second is érōs, which in part does mean, as the modern word “erotic” indicates, sexual attraction.

Third is philía, which describes a sense of affection and regard among equals.

Last is the less frequently used storgē, meaning affection, especially (but not only) of the kind one has toward parents and children and including empathy of the type felt naturally toward one’s children.

Note that what distinguishes the four types of love recognized by the Greeks is not so much the object of love but rather the modality of the sentiment.

Take the specific instance of a long-term “romantic” relationship in the modern sense of the term. Ideally, what one wants in that case is a particular combination of the first three modes: We unconditionally (i.e., not because it is to our advantage) want the good of the other person (agápē); we want not just physical attraction but also a deeper appreciation of the beauty of our partner in terms of his or her character traits (érōs); and we want to be that person’s friend and to enjoy his or her company for its own sake (philía). What distinguishes love for a partner from love for our children, friends, country, or God, then, is the specific modulation of the various types of Greek “love.”

Invoking a daimon, then, might simply have been a metaphorical way for Socrates to refer to the path he had set for himself of never doing anything that could imperil his moral integrity.

One way to forge your path in the world is to be lucky enough to know the right people; better yet if you are part of their family.

For it is not Histories that I am writing, but Lives; and in the most illustrious deeds there is not always a manifestation of virtue or vice, nay, a slight thing like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of character than battles when thousands fall….

For it is a disgrace to flatter the people for the sake of power; but to get power by acts of terror, violence, and oppression, is not only a disgrace, it is also an injustice.”

Anger, Plutarch notes, is a passion from which “no one ever gets a grateful return.”

no idea is sacred and that everything needs to be questioned, especially if it appears that people hide behind an idea without understanding it or are blind to its limitations.

questioning the institution and its specific implementations is a must for any thinking person who is truly interested in justice and human flourishing.

why people marry and have children, explaining to Lamprocles how gender roles are understood in ancient Athens. When he comes to the role of women, he says, “The woman conceives and bears her burden in travail, risking her life, and giving of her own food; and, with much labour, having endured to the end and brought forth her child, she rears and cares for it.”4 A mother then proceeds to selflessly give to her offspring, providing them with whatever she thinks they want and need. And of course this is not limited to food but encompasses anything the mother is able to teach. If she is in no position to teach, then she looks for someone who can, all in the interest of her sons and daughters.

Teaching is not a process by which instructors fill empty minds with their own notions. True teaching rather consists of gently guiding students, steering them away from fallacies and, slowly but surely, toward a better grasp of things and ideas. Students then own their conclusions, arrive at a better understanding, and are able to internalize notions rather than simply regurgitate someone else’s opinion.

Michelangelo, who said that he wasn’t really creating his statues but was just removing the marble that enclosed them, thus bringing them to light.

Only after cutting his teeth on that small task should he contemplate the possibility of being in charge of all the households in the city.

we so unreflectively think of as good (or evil), such as health, wealth, fame (or, conversely, sickness, poverty, anonymity), is actually morally neutral. What makes such things into something to be preferred (or dispreferred) is how one handles them.

good only if it changes things on the ground rather than limiting itself to abstract dissertations inside the walls of the Academy.

had to have three characteristics: physis (nature), ethos (education), and logos (intellect).

action needs to be guided by good judgment.

only thing that truly matters for a Stoic: the improvement of one’s character.

What, then, am I myself doing with my leisure? I am trying to cure my own sores.

To hold oneself as someone else’s mirror is what Aristotle says true friends do for each other, and it is one of our most effective ways to keep our path on the side of virtue.

Seneca reminds Nero that people are willing to subject themselves to great sacrifices, including going to war, if they consider their sovereign to be just.

“No courage is so great as that which is born of utter desperation. In order to keep people down by terror, you must grant them a certain amount of security, and let them see that they have far more to hope for than to fear: for otherwise, if a

man is in equal peril whether he sits still or takes action, he will feel actual pleasure in risking his life, and will fling it away as lightly as though it were not his own.”26

either that it may correct him whom it punishes, or that his punishment may render other men better, or that, by bad men being put out of the way, the rest may live without fear.”

“Philosophers” are those who wish to practice the art of living, strive to become the best human beings they can be, and emphasize their deeds, not just their words.

ethics (how to conduct one’s life), politics (how to run human societies), and epistemology (how humans come to know things).

philosophy should guide every thinking person’s life.

primus inter pares, first among equals,

a philosopher was simply someone who attempted to live in a particularly mindful and ethical way. Philosophy was the theory and practice of the art of living,

virtue (arete in Greek) is excellence at the proper function of someone or something.

an excellent human being is one who uses reason correctly and who lives in a prosocial (i.e., “virtuous”) manner.

The question that exercised his mind was how to win and retain power in a world that functions as a result of cause and effect (not divine will), where survival—of both the individual and the state—is paramount and everything else, especially talk of virtue and justice, is a luxury that few can afford.

Luck—what the Stoics referred to as the universal web of cause and effect—cannot be counted on, and a wise person ought to be prepared for even the best plans to be ruined by the mysterious workings of the universe.

We moderns tend to underestimate the role of character in our leaders and to overestimate the functionality of our institutions.

no system, regardless of how good it is in principle, will lead to a just and peaceful society unless people—beginning with those in charge—act in a somewhat virtuous fashion. The Romans referred to the concept of mos maiorum, often translated as “the way of the ancestors.”

positive change must be guided by the right ethical compass, but it is naive and dangerous to think that one can achieve lasting results just by politely asking the powers that be to please step aside.

“Set yourself in motion, if it is in your power, and do not look about you to see if anyone will observe it; nor yet expect Plato’s Republic: but be content if the smallest thing goes on well, and consider such an event to be no small matter.”11

becoming better human beings, arguably the most consequential contribution each and every one of us can make to eventually build a better world.

Fortune has no jurisdiction over character. —SENECA, LETTER XXXVI.6

Courage: Emotional strength that involves the exercise of will to accomplish goals in the face of internal or external opposition; specific manifestations include bravery, perseverance, and authenticity (honesty). Justice: Civic-minded strength that makes healthy community life possible; it includes fairness, leadership, and citizenship or teamwork. Humanity: Interpersonal strength that involves “tending and befriending” others; it includes intentional acts of love and kindness. Temperance: Strength that protects against excess; manifestations comprise forgiveness, humility, prudence, and self-control. Wisdom: Cognitive strength that entails the acquisition and use of knowledge; it includes creativity, curiosity, judgment, perspective, and the ability to provide counsel to others. Transcendence: Strength derived from cultivating connections to the larger universe that provides personal meaning; it manifests itself as gratitude, hope, and spirituality.

“Character is what we do when we think no one is looking.”

What, then, does work—empirically speaking—to improve our characters? Three strategies: the use of moral role models, conscious selecting of situations, and “getting the word out” (with ourselves).

mindfulness known as prosochē,

“Very little is needed for everything to be upset and ruined, only a slight lapse in reason. It’s much easier for a mariner to wreck his ship than it is for him to keep it sailing safely; all he has to do is head a little more upwind and disaster is instantaneous. In fact, he does not have to do anything: a momentary loss of attention will produce the same result.”15 Paying attention. Mindfulness. Prosochē. These clear parallels between one of the most explicitly

Philosophy conceived as the art of living has as its subject of concern one’s “soul” (or character, in modern terms) and as its goal the betterment of this soul/character. The product of the practice is excellence, or wisdom in the broad sense of the term.

But it is necessary to develop one’s “ethics” (i.e., one’s life conduct). Why? Because if you go through life without a decent grasp of reality, that is, of how the world works, you are likely to make mistakes—possibly fatal ones.

habituation: “As are your repeated imaginations so will your mind be, for the soul is dyed by its imaginations. Dye it, then, in a succession of imaginations like these.”24 Habituation gradually alters character and allows us to translate theory into practice.

The very theme of this book—gaining an understanding of the ancient connections between philosophy and politics and how we can use this understanding to better ourselves in the modern era—suggests a call to examination of our own character and from there to expand outward to improve our communities and our society.