CONCEPTION OF MORAL VIRTUE IN AL-GHAZÂLÎ AND MENCIUS

Zehra Nur Terzi

ABSTRACT

Throughout history, virtue has been an essential topic for all societies. Living in a society brings some responsibilities for human beings. The thinkers of societies mention the notion of virtue according to the framework of their civilizations. Each civilization has its own values, beliefs and social structures which shape its concept of virtue. But at this point, a problem arises: Is a virtue relative or the same in every civilization? In addition to virtue, accordingly, there have been discussions about human nature, whether it is good or bad. In this paper, I will examine the ideas of Chinese philosopher Mencius / Meng zi 孟子 and Muslim philosopher al-Ghazâlî on virtue and try to compare and contrast their ideas.