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Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc
I think you are right in this. It is most likely that many, if not all, the prized virtues stream from Tolkien's own European/Aristotelian/Catholic viewpoint. But I wanted to look at this from the point, let's say, if you take Middle-earth as one separate culture (imagine it, for example, existing on our Earth on some continent apart from Europe, Asia, America... so as one external to them, to get the proper impression), independant on the other cultures, yet sharing some of the others' viewpoints. As there are several different cultures on Earth, some of them have still some things in common. E.g. if I pick from what you quoted, for example right third there is "Right Speech", which corresponds more or less with Judeo-Christian "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." (and others) So, if for example these two cultures have this in common, what does Middle-Earth have in common with some other culture?
Okay, so why not start with the "classic" as you brought it here (I hope I got right how they are called in English.):
σωφροσύνη (moderation)
φρόνησις ([practical] wisdom, prudence - in the original meaning of the word)
ανδρεία (bravery, fortitude)
δικαιοσύνη (justice - in the personal meaning)
Can you name any passage, show where these are mentioned in Tolkien's books (or probably not named explicitely, but shown on some example. And are they just valued, or desirable? Any evidence on that? And does it differ in places/cultures - for example, does it affect Dwarves as well as Elves? I'm not speaking of Orcs now, though even here it might be interesting - maybe even more...)
Could you subscribe each of these to some person? Could you name someone who would be a "good representative" for one of them? Could you find someone who is a "good representative" to all of them?
(We might widen the range of virtues later.)
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Yes you’ve basically got them right. Well here goes. I don't think I can name one, but I think they are some somewhere. I’ll try to look for something. The thing IMO that makes this very difficult to work around is the explicit or intimate knowledge of the Gods or arc angels for the Dwarves and the Elves, and to a lesser extent Men, thus making the different races much closer then here in our world. All the major races share basically the same core belief, The Dwarves believe that after death Aule gathers them to a special place prepared for them, or in the Prophecy of The Last Battle the Elves awake and all their dead arise, and the purpose of Iluvatar be fulfilled and so on, but agian they all seem to have the same fundamental beliefs. I also think that the lack of organized religion plays a part in the difficulty of being able to find such references in the books, everything just
is. I hope I’m not confusing you, I'm not ever sure I answered the question.
*Thinking he shouldn’t have gotten himself into this...*
~Beleg