徳という言葉が好きで、日々の生活でも徳を積んでいくことを思い立ったらしようと心がけていますが、海外のとりわけ仏教思想を持たない人にどう説明すればいいかいつも困ってしまいます。 徳、英訳、で検索すると「Virtue」とヒットする。 よく利用されるWikipediaさんを見ると以下のような文章である。 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 right and avoiding what is wrong in a given field of endeavour. 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.