O simple ones, learn prudence;
O foolish men, pay attention.

— Proverbs 8:5

Either before you arrive or as you wait for class to begin, find this short passage from Sacred Scripture in your Bible or through an online search. Reading it will prepare you for this week’s material.

—Wisdom 7:7–14

O God our creator, who have endowed us with intelligence and freedom, guide us, we pray, that we may prudently seek your will and by your grace accomplish it.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

As you watch the video lesson, refer to these key highlights. Feel free to use the space provided to take notes.

• It matters for human happiness not simply that we move at all but more importantly that we move well toward the ends that perfect us.

• The moral virtues—prudence, justice, courage, and temperance—are those qualities of soul that allow us to move rationally toward whatever good end we set out to pursue.

• Prudence enjoys pride of place among the moral virtues.

• The act of prudence unfolds in three principal steps: deliberation, judgment, and command.
  

  

• At the step of judgment, the person has to judge both the goodness and the appropriateness of the preferred means to his chosen end.

• The prudent man acts confidently according to his conscience, which he allows to be informed by all truth pertaining to moral action.

Wisdom of the Saints

A good conscience is a mine of wealth. And in truth what greater riches can there be, what thing more sweet, than a good conscience?

— St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Take a moment to go through these questions with the group. For larger classes, divide them up into partners. Answers are provided to assist you in leading discussion.

1. What are the moral virtues and what do they do for us?

The moral virtues are prudence, justice, courage, and temperance. They are qualities of soul that allow us to move rationally toward whatever good end we set out to pursue.

Prudence perfects our intellect, helping us to deliberate well about how best to achieve a chosen goal in a given situation. Justice perfects our will, helping us always to render others their due. Courage and temperance perfect our passions, helping us to be drawn to the good and to contend with evil according to right reason.

1. Why is prudence the most important of the moral virtues?

Since prudence shapes man’s every deliberate action, it shapes every action of the other moral virtues. In this sense, you could say prudence is the foundation of the other virtues. There is no act of justice, courage, or temperance that is not also an act of prudence, just as there is no sacrificial act that does not have love as its foundation. When we show courage in a given situation (or temperance or justice), it is because we were prudent in how we assessed the situation first.
3. What are the three principal steps in an act of prudence? Discuss what each is briefly.

Deliberation, judgment, and command.

Deliberation is the act in which we consider all the means possible to achieve a chosen end. Judgment is when we judge both the goodness and the appropriateness of these preferred means to the chosen end. Command is the phase at which we carry out the best possible option before us.

1. Explain why it is not enough merely to “following one’s conscience.” Is every judgment we make infallibly made? Why or why not?

Every judgment regarding the goodness of an action is not infallibly (or perfectly) made because, as one’s knowledge of the moral law can be incomplete, one’s conscience can be mistaken, or even defective. In order to judge well according to one’s conscience, conscience itself must be well formed. This means that conscience must be submissive to divine and human instruction.

[Prudence] is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.

— CCC 1806

Discuss these questions with the group, pair them with a partner, or ask them to meditate on their own.

1. How does your faith help you make prudent decisions, both big and small? How does it help form your conscience?

2. Looking back on any decisions that you regret, which step of prudence did you fail in: deliberation, judgment, or command?

3. How do you view conscience differently after completing this chapter? If so, how?

After concluding your group discussion, return to watch the second video where converts to the Catholic faith discuss their conversion and how they live today as Catholics.

Rome to Home

Prudence, according to the Greek philosophical tradition, is the first of the cardinal virtues. It indicates the primacy of the truth which, through “prudence”, becomes a criterion for our action. Prudence demands humble, disciplined and watchful reason that does not let itself be blinded by prejudices; it does not judge according to desires and passions but rather seeks the truth, even though it may prove uncomfortable. Prudence means searching for the truth and acting in conformity with it. The prudent servant is first and foremost a man of truth and a man of sincere reason.

— Pope Benedict XVI, Homily September 12, 2009

Moral Virtues: Qualities of soul that allow us to move rationally toward whatever good end we set out to pursue; these include prudence, justice, courage, and temperance.

Prudence: One of the moral virtues, and in fact, the foundation of the moral virtues. It perfects our intellect, helping us to deliberate well about how best to achieve a chosen goal in a given situation. The act of prudence unfolds in three principal steps: deliberation, judgment, and command.

Deliberation: The first step of a prudent act when one considers all the means possible to achieve his chosen end.

Judgment: The second step of a prudent act when one judges (considers and weighs outcomes) both the goodness and the appropriateness of the preferred means to his chosen end.

Command: The third and final stage of a prudent act when one carries out the best possible action deemed through deliberation and judgment.

Conscience: A practical judgment of the mind, assessing (from general principles of faith and reason) the goodness or evil of a concrete action. It is an operation of the intellect and not of the feelings or even of the will. It is a specific act of the mind applying its knowledge to a concrete moral situation. Conscience stands under the objective moral law and should be formed by it so that “the truth about moral good, as that truth is declared in the law of reason, is practically and concretely recognized by the judgment of conscience” (St. John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, no. 61).

God’s Word

A fool despises his father’s instruction, / but he who heeds admonition is prudent.

— Proverbs 15:5

O Holy Spirit of God, take me as your disciple; guide me, illuminate me, sanctify me. Bind my hands that they may do no evil; cover my eyes that they may see it no more; sanctify my heart that evil may not dwell within me. Be my God; be my guide. Where you lead me, I will go: whatever you forbid me, I will renounce; and whatever you command me, in your strength, I will do. Lead me, then, unto the fullness of your truth. Amen.

This serves as a review of the material that your students can read after each class, but it may be helpful for you to read as well. Consider reading it before each class to better prepare you for group discussion.

It matters for human happiness not simply that we move at all but, more importantly, that we move well toward the ends that perfect us. For example, it does not suffice for us merely to eat, to speak, and to love in order to be happy; we have to eat, speak, and love well, or according to reason. To move reasonably toward our good ends is to move humanly toward them. Acting humanly and rationally in addition to enjoying life’s goods contributes to our personal goodness.

The moral virtues—prudence, justice, courage, and temperance—are those qualities of soul that allow us to move rationally toward whatever good end we set out to pursue. Prudence perfects our intellect, helping us to deliberate well about how best to achieve a chosen goal in a given situation. Justice perfects our will, helping us always to render others their due. Courage and temperance perfect our passions, helping us to be drawn to the good and to contend with evil according to right reason. The Christian tradition has long understood that the moral virtues, which are necessary for pursuing our natural good rationally, become, in the life of grace, necessary for pursuing our supernatural good rationally. Evenwhen elevated by charity, the moral virtues ensure that the Christian life remains properly rational. Accordingly, Christian moral theology rightly gives considerable attention to the moral virtues.

Prudence enjoys pride of place among the moral virtues. To understand why, it is important to distinguish the virtue of prudence from what we commonly call prudence, which is a kind of caution that slows or even hinders action. As a virtue, prudence inserts truth into action and ensures that a good action properly deliberated is carried through to completion. The prudent man, therefore, is not the cautious or timid actor but the sure and confident one who acts decisively as circumstances demand. Since prudence shapes man’s every deliberate action, it shapes every action of the other moral virtues. In this sense, you could say prudence is a kind of foundation of the other moral virtues. There is no act of justice, courage, or temperance that is not also an act of prudence, just as there is no sacrificial act that does not have love as its foundation. When we make a personal sacrifice for someone, we are showing our love for him or her; similarly, when we show courage in a given situation (or temperance or justice), it is because we were prudent in how we assessed the situation first.

The act of prudence unfolds in three principal steps: deliberation, judgment, and command. After a person forms the intention to do something—like a son who intends to celebrate his mother’s birthday—he enters into the step of deliberation, in which he considers all the means possible to achieve his chosen end. In this case, the son considers all of the ways in which he can mark his mother’s birthday: give her a call, buy her a gift, take her to dinner, etc. Ordinarily, as a person ponders the available means to achieving his goal, even taking counsel from others to ensure that he doesn’t overlook anything, one or two possible means will appear to him as the most preferred or feasible. With these means in view, the person enters the second step of prudence, which is judgment. If he passes too quickly through the step of deliberation, not calling to mind a sufficient number of the means available to him, he could be guilty of acting impulsively.

At the step of judgment, the person has to judge both the goodness and the appropriateness of the preferred means to his chosen end. Is the meansmorally permissible? Is it appropriate to the circumstances? Are there any dangers attached to the preferred means? For example, when considering whether to buy his mother a birthday gift, he should ask himself: does he have the money to purchase a gift, does his mother already have what he wants to buy her, will she be offended by his proposed gift? Once he makes the judgment that his preferred means is both good and appropriate, he then elects to pursue this means. The second step of prudence is now complete, and the agent is ready to proceed to step three, which is command. If a person passes too quickly through the step of judgment, failing to judge the goodness of his proposed action according to all of the relevant criteria, he could be guilty of acting thoughtlessly.

Once a possible means to an end is properly deliberated and judged, it is time for the action necessary to pursue the means to be commanded, or carried out. An act of the intellect aimed at the will, command is prudence’s final and defining act. It ensures that the means properly deliberated and judged is actually executed. For example, the son who chooses to buyhis mother roses for her birthday must actually do what is necessary to buy and deliver them, including ordering them, picking them up, and bringing them to his mother. As our example shows, it does not suffice to give a present simply to deliberate about it and judge it a good thing to do. Intellect must command will so that one’s good judgment translates into action. If a person fails to command (carry out) the action properly deliberated and judged, he may be guilty of fickleness or indecisiveness and become an unreliable person. If he fails to execute what he commands, he may be guilty of negligence.

Prudent action follows the successful completion of all three of these steps. A failure in any one step results in imprudent action.

For various historical and ideological reasons, the classical regard for prudence has been collapsed into the modern regard for conscience. While conscience remains an important component of moral action, it does not do what it is commonly thought to do. To be sure, individuals should follow their own conscience while acting; they are even bound to follow their conscience in most instances. But this means nothing more than that they should exercise their own prudence when acting, particularly at the step of judgment. No one else can intrude into your mind and make this judgment for you. This does not mean, however, that you’ll always judge rightly or infallibly regarding the goodness of an action. As one’s knowledge of the moral law can be incomplete, one’s conscience can be mistaken, or even defective. In order to judge well according to one’s conscience, conscience itself must be well formed. This means that conscience must be submissive to divine and human instruction.

At work here is the classic Catholic understanding of the relationship between objective truth about right and wrong, and how the individual person grasps and applies that truth to particular situations. Catholic teaching makes clear that the concrete judgment of the individual person can never be set against objective moral truth, as if conscience and truth were two competing principles. It is the mark of a misinformed conscience and a faulty judgment of prudence to say, “I know the Church says it is wrong, but my conscience told me it was okay.”

St. John Paul II wrote some powerful words about this kind of a view“Conscience is not an independent and exclusive capacity to decide what is good and what is evil” (Veritatis Splendor, no. 60). Conscience stands under the objective moral law and should be formed by it so that “the truth about moral good, as that truth is declared in the law of reason, is practically and concretely recognized by the judgment of conscience” (Veritatis Splendor, no. 61).

The prudent man, therefore, is the one who deliberates, judges, and commands good action in pursuit of the goods that perfect him and others. He acts confidently according to his conscience, which he allows to be informed by all truth pertaining to moral action.

Pieper, Josef. The Four Cardinal Virtues. University of Notre Dame Press, 1996.