Lea Clark

Professor Gilliand

PHI-100-24N

16, September 2014

Intelligence

A general character trait that everyone should have is intelligence. Intelligence is a virtue, which can be easily described as a person who is able to learn and easily pick up new skills or material and apply them to their life in different situations. Someone who is intelligent has agility, strength, knowledge, skill, judgment, and is hardworking. Intelligence can be considered a virtue due to the fact that someone who is intelligent has more of an advantage as someone who is not intelligent. Also, someone who is more intelligent will have many more opportunities than the average person. The exact definition of a virtue is, “behavior showing high moral standards,” intelligence can certainly fit into this category.

            Someone who is intelligent will always have a greater advantage over someone who is not as intelligent. An example could be two people trying to get the same job. One person has spent many hours researching everything they might need to know for this job and has a degree in a related topic to the job; while the other person knows absolutely nothing about the job and is just hoping to get the job with some luck. The obvious choice is the person who knows more about he job and clearly has put in more effort to prepare for it. Jobs look for people with high moral standards, which is also the definition of a virtue. You have to work at intelligence but it shows that you have high standards.

1. All people that have many opportunities are intelligent.

2. All people who are hardworking are people that have many opportunities

3. Therefore hardworking people are intelligent

This makes it clear that having intelligence is an important virtue. Not only will you have many opportunities than someone who is not intelligent, but you will also have a greater advantage over them too. Intelligence is arguably the most important virtue to live a successful life.