by Matthew Blackmon

Created on: December 29, 2009

 There has been research in different fields of psychology that have shown that there are certain universal ideas that contribute towards human flourishing.  In Owen Flanagan’s book The Really Hard Problem:  Meaning in a Material World, he examined research by Psychologists Schwartz Peterson and Martin Seligman who identified the “High Six” (universal 'virtues') as justice, humaneness, temperance, wisdom, transcendence, and courage (50).   While Peterson and Seligman identified these six as virtues, Flanagan makes the argument that transcendence is not a virtue, but it is nonetheless beneficial for you.  He differentiated transcendence because it was "a general cognitive-affective-conative orientation" (what, why, and attachment of self) rather than something that can be called based upon situation like the other virtues (51).  In order to understand fully what Flanagan is asserting it is important to understand the meaning of virtue, the function of virtue, and why transcendence's orienting factors benefit an individual yet make it functionally distinct from other virtues; however, in light of these things I agree with Flanagan’s observations that transcendence while not a virtue nonetheless contributes towards eudaimonia.

      Flanagan describes virtue to be a “disposition to perceive, feel, think, judge, and act in a characteristic way appropriate to the virtue.” (51)  This means that in any given situation we can act upon a specific virtue.  We can observe examples of virtues through the interaction of people with one another.  Flanagan gives the example “virtues such as justice, courage, and temperance are called upon by situations that require fairness, integrity, and self-control, respectively”.  Each of these virtues exhibit tangible quantities that we can specifically relate towards a given situation; we see that one's actions can be described as virtuous if we respond to the situation according to the virtue (51).    For example:  a person who practices the virtue of justice will have an bad feelings when viewing an injustice take place, and will be inclined to act to restore fairness; acting to restore fairness will be acting virtuously in this situation.  

      Individuals must practice and refine virtues in order to be able to apply them consistently in a variety

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