Virtue: a new lifestyle?

Debate focused on a general renewed interest in “virtue”, defined as a series of absolute and eternal values. Without forgetting more traditional virtues, such as prudence, justice, strength and temperance, as well as others linked to Christianity – faith, hope, charity – participants also examined more contemporary conceptions of virtue: from respect for nature to resource management, to narrow issues such as intellectual property rights and patents on medicines developed in rich countries and unaffordable to the world’s poor. In a complex panorama of human and civil rights, the meaning of virtue was explored. Peace, after all, is nothing more than a great many virtues put together: dialogue, comprehension, appreciation and, especially, justice. Participants also touched upon a specific virtue: patriotism, or rather the feeling of belonging to a society, a culture, a shared history. This was judged a valuable sentiment, as long as it is calibrated and never comes to represent closure towards other cultures, societies, peoples.