Integral Parts of Prudence
"Integral parts" of virtues, in Scholastic philosophy, are the elements that must be present for any complete or perfect act of the virtue. The following are the integral parts of prudence:
- Memoria — Accurate memory; that is, memory that is true to reality
- Intelligentia — Understanding of first principles
- Docilitas — The kind of open-mindedness that recognizes the true variety of things and situations to be experienced, and does not cage itself in any presumption of deceptive knowledge; the ability to make use of the experience and authority of others to make prudent decisions
- Shrewdness or quick-wittedness (solertia) — sizing up a situation on one's own quickly
- Discursive reasoning (ratio) — research and compare alternative possibilities
- Foresight (providentia) — capacity to estimate whether a particular action will lead to the realization of our goal
- Circumspection — ability to take all relevant circumstances into account
- Caution — risk mitigation
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Famous quotes containing the words integral, parts and/or prudence:
“Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it come to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Pure Spirit, one hundred degrees proof—that’s a drink that only the most hardened contemplation-guzzlers indulge in. Bodhisattvas dilute their Nirvana with equal parts of love and work.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“Datta: what have we given?
My friend, blood shaking my heart
The awful daring of a moment’s surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)