I want to start a discussion on the topic of virtue (aspects of which may have already been discussed in the past) but mainly because it seems that this topic hasn't has enough time in the limelight as what it deserves.
Principal Doctrine 5 - An Epicurean sees virtue as important for a happy and pleasurable life because it is the means to a happy and pleasurable life - virtue is itself not the end goal but is the way that leads to a pleasurable life.
So up for discussion is anything from Epicurean philosophy (including from Philodemus) that touches on development of virtue for the sake of a happy and pleasurable life.
I will start off with thinking about how we understand the word "virtue" in our current times.
Here is the opening from Wikipedia:
A virtue (Latin: virtus) is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is valued as an end purpose of life or a foundational principle of being. In human practical ethics, a virtue is a disposition to choose actions that succeed in showing high moral standards: doing what is said to be right and avoiding what is wrong in a given field of endeavour, even when doing so may be unnecessary from a utilitarian perspective. When someone takes pleasure in doing what is right, even when it is difficult or initially unpleasant, they can establish virtue as a habit. Such a person is said to be virtuous through having cultivated such a disposition. The opposite of virtue is vice.
(Wikipedia has more on this here).
