Vice
Vice is a practice or habit that is considered immoral, depraved, and/or degrading in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a defect, an infirmity, or merely a bad habit. Synonyms for vice include fault, depravity, sin, iniquity, wickedness and corruption. The modern Spanish term that best captures its original meaning is the word vicious, which means "full of vice." In this sense, the word vice comes from the Latin word vitium, meaning "failing or defect". Vice is the opposite of virtue.
Vice is also a generic legal term for criminal offenses involving prostitution, lewdness, lasciviousness, and obscenity. Illegal forms of gambling are also often included as a vice in law enforcement departments that deal with gambling as a crime.
Overview of religious views on vice
One way of organizing the vices is as the corruption of the virtues. A virtue can be corrupted by nonuse, misuse, or overuse. Thus the cardinal vices would be lust (nonuse of temperance), cowardice (nonuse of courage), folly (misuse of a virtue, opposite of wisdom), and venality (nonuse of justice).
See also [ The Four Virtues ]
Dante's seven deadly vices
The poet Dante Alighieri listed the following seven deadly vices, associating them structurally[11] as flaws in the soul's inherent capacity for goodness as made in the Divine Image yet perverted by the Fall:
- Pride or vanity: an excessive love of the self (holding the self outside of its proper position regarding God or fellows; Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbour"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, pride is referred to as superbia.
- Envy or jealousy: resentment of others for their possessions (Dante: "love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, envy is referred to as invidia.
- Wrath or anger: feelings of hatred, revenge or denial, as well as punitive desires outside of justice (Dante's description was "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, wrath is referred to as ira, which primitive vices tempt astray by increasingly perverting the proper purpose of charity, directing it inwards, leading to a disordered navel-gazing preoccupation with personal goods in isolation absent proper harmonious relations leading to violent disruption of balance with others.
- Sloth or laziness idleness and wastefulness of time or other allotted resources. Laziness is condemned because it results in others having to work harder; also, useful work will not be done. Sloth is referred to in Latin as accidie or acedia, which vice tempts a self-aware soul to be too easily satisfied, thwarting charity's purpose as insufficiently perceptible within the soul itself or abjectly indifferent in relationship with the needs of others and their satisfaction, an escalation in evil, more odious than the passion of hate
- Avarice (covetousness, greed): a desire to possess more than one has need or use for (or according to Dante, "excessive love of money and power"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, avarice is referred to as avaritia.
- Gluttony: overindulgence in food, drink or intoxicants, or misplaced desire of food as a pleasure for its sensuality ("excessive love of pleasure" was Dante's rendering). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, gluttony is referred to as gula.
- Lust: excessive sexual desire. Dante's criterion was that "lust detracts from true love". In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, lust is referred to as luxuria, which vices tempt cultivated souls in their ability to direct charity's proper purpose to good things or actions, by indulging excess. Thus in Dante's estimation the soul's detachment from sensual appetites become the vices most difficult to tame, urges not as easily curbed by mere good manners since inflamed via appropriate use rather than inappropriate misuse. Hence conventional respect for the ninth and tenth commandments against coveting and social customs that encourage custody of the eyes and ears become prudent adjuncts to training against vice.
Examples of vices
- absent-mindedness
- addiction
- aggression
- alcoholism
- animosity
- antagonism
- apathy
- bigotry
- bitterness
- callousness
- caprice
- carelessness
- child sacrifice
- cowardice
- corruption
- cruelty
- denial
- dependence
- despair
- diffidence
- dishonesty
- dishonor
- disobedience
- disrespectfulness
- drunkenness
- excess
- favoritism
- filthiness
- flippancy
- flightiness
- foolishness
- greed
- hatred
- hostility
- homosexuality
- ignorance
- inconstancy
- indecision
- indifference
- indolence
- indulgence
- inequality
- infidelity
- ingratitude
- injustice
- insincerity
- intemperance
- immodesty
- immorality
- impatience
- impiety
- improvidence
- irresponsibility
- irreverence
- laziness
- lewdness
- licentiousness
- lightmindedness
- malevolence
- malice
- misanthropy
- misandry
- misogyny
- moral relativism
- negativity
- omissiveness
- officiousness
- paranoia
- parasitism
- passivity
- permissiveness
- perversion
- pessimism
- poor judgment
- pornography
- prejudice
- presumptuousness
- pride (hubris)
- procrastination
- promiscuity
- purposelessness
- rashness
- rudeness
- ruthlessness
- secretiveness
- self-degradation
- selfishness
- sensuality
- shortsightedness
- slackness
- slavery
- suppression
- stinginess
- stubbornness
- stupidity
- tactlessness
- treachery
- unfairness
- unforgiveness
- unkindness
- unscrupulousness
- unsophistication
- vanity
- violence
- wantonness
- weakness
- wildness, uncivilization
- wiliness
- worldliness
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