Liberality Meets Virtue
In Nicomachean Ethics, a book written by Aristotle, we learn the nature of human ethics. The book tells us that happiness is the ultimate goal for any man, and that morality is attained through habitual action and prudence. The author tells us of various virtues that should be desirable to any man who wishes to become moral and good. One of the virtues discussed in the book is liberality. Liberality is not talking about politics, but it is talking about how a man uses his money and the moral principles thereof. Principles of what he will do with his money and what he will give it to. The mean of two extremes is often times where virtue is found. When talking about money, the liberal person is the best and most desired virtue with prodigality being the excess and stinginess being the deficiency.
The liberal person is a strong and logical person who is the mean with regards to virtue. We can see the definition of liberality illustrated in the book when we read “the giving and taking of money, and more with regard to the giving of/ it.” (1119b25-26) Using money consists of the spending and giving (1120a8-9). We see how a liberal person uses their money when the author writes “Thus it belongs to the liberal person more to give to whom/ he ought than to take from whom he ought or to refrain from taking from /who he ought not.” (1120a10-12) The liberal person will have the mindset that it is more desirable to be a good person than to be well off or “comfortable” person (1120a12-13), and he will give selflessly solely because it helps people. Of all virtuous people, liberal people are among the most desired to have in society because they offer help to other people through their giving. We see this illustrated when the author writes “Of all those who act on the basis of /virtue, liberal human beings are perhaps loved most, for they are advanta/geous to others, and this consists in giving.” (1120a21-23) Virtuous actions are noble, and since a liberal person is virtuous, they will give because it is noble and right to do so, and they will do this with pleasure instead of pain because there is no pain in doing what is virtuous (1120a27-29).
The prodigal person is a person of many vices and is the excess with regards to virtue (1119b33-34). The prodigal is an excessive spender who lacks self-control and depletes his own resources. Therefore, the prodigal is a person who destroys themselves, and they destroy themselves because they destroy their resources, for one cannot live unless he has the resources necessary to survival (1120a0-3). These resources are depleted because the prodigal person will keep their money completely to themselves only to spend it frivolously on senseless items such as alcohol, women, clothing, jewelry, and the like so they can live a riotous and rebellious life.
The stingy person is a selfish and unreliable person and is the deficiency with regards to virtue. He benefits no one including himself. They give to no one including themselves and are often inclined to take before they are they have to spend or give. They are the complete opposite of the liberal person (1121a27-30), because of this relunctance to give or spend at all.
The liberal person is the best and most desirable person to be when using money because he will use his money better than the prodigal or stingy person. The reason for this is because the liberal person gives selflessly because it helps people whereas the prodigal person would keep and take money for his own selfish desires, and the stingy person would excessively give money because he lives beyond his limits and knows no self-control. The prodigal and stingy person will both waste money. The money is wasted by a stingy person when it is taken or kept because the person who refuses to help others is only using his money for selfish and non-virtuous reasons, and money is wasted by a stingy person because the money is not being used at all. Therefore, the liberal person is the most virtuous of the three. It is evident that being good would line up with giving, and that being bad would line up with taking. People also like a giver more than a taker, and gratitude often time flows from a giver more than it does a taker. This is said because when it is the turn of the giver to receive he is thankful and appreciative to be given something in return after having given so much, whereas the taker will see receiving as nothing more than what he used to and will take receiving for granted. Those who give selflessly like the liberal person are good, noble, and generous people who receive much praise for their unselfish actions whereas the prodigal and stingy people are those who take are not viewed as moral people and who receive no praise at all for their actions.
