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La Bruyère: Virtue and Disinterestedness

This article studies the notion of virtue put forward in La Bruyère’s Les Caractères. La Bruyère upholds the Aristotelian notion (rejected by hard-line Augustinians of his own century) of virtue as doing good deeds for their own sake: he examines the relationship between virtue and motive, denying that virtue is present where the behaviour is subordinated to the pursuit of self-interest. The pursuit of glory, on the other hand, may be laudable if the means to that end involve acting for the common good rather than for selfish advantage. Particular stress is laid on doing good to other people, especially when this entails selfsacrifice. Friendship, too, is evaluated in respect of its freedom from self-interestedness. Disinterestedness is not simply a moral value, but a potential source of happiness and fulfilment, in that it liberates the individual from humiliating social dependence; it is also a social ideal, capable of regenerating society, by encouraging people to focus on using their talents for the good of the community rather than for seeking advancement through favour.