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:
“Painting myself for others, I have painted my inward self with colors clearer than my original ones. I have no more made my book than my book has made me—a book consubstantial with its author, concerned with my own self, an integral part of my life; not concerned with some third-hand, extraneous purpose, like all other books.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Nature seems to have taken a particular Care to disseminate her Blessings among the different Regions of the World, with an Eye to this mutual Intercourse and Traffick among Mankind, that the Natives of the several Parts of the Globe might have a kind of Dependance [sic] upon one another, and be united together by their common Interest.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“The majority of persons choose their wives with as little prudence as they eat. They see a trull with nothing else to recommend her but a pair of thighs and choice hunkers, and so smart to void their seed that they marry her at once. They imagine they can live in marvelous contentment with handsome feet and ambrosial buttocks. Most men are accredited fools shortly after they leave the womb.”
—Edward Dahlberg (1900–1977)