Vice facts for kids
A vice is a bad habit or behavior that people generally think is wrong in a society. It can also mean a fault, a negative trait, or an unhealthy habit. Vices are often linked to a person's character, not just their moral choices.
Words like fault, sin, or wickedness are similar to vice. The opposite of a vice is a virtue, which is a good quality or behavior.
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What Does "Vice" Mean?
The word vice comes from the Latin word vitium, which means "failing or defect." The English word vicious (meaning "full of vice") helps us understand its original meaning.
Vice and the Law
In some places, "vice crimes" are a special category in the law. Even where they aren't, police often use the term vice for crimes involving activities seen as wrong, even if they don't cause direct harm.
Police Vice Squads
A vice squad or morality squad is a police group that focuses on stopping certain "moral crimes." What counts as a moral crime changes from place to place. These often include things like gambling or selling alcohol illegally. Vice squads usually don't deal with more serious crimes like fraud or murder.
Vice in Religions
Many religions talk about vices and how to avoid them. Some places even have "religious police" who help make sure people follow religious rules. For example, some Islamic religious police units might check on dress codes, if stores close for prayer, or if people are eating forbidden foods.
Buddhism and Vices
In one type of Buddhism called Sarvastivadin, there are 108 "defilements" or vices that people are told to avoid. These include:
- Not feeling shame
- Not feeling embarrassment
- Being jealous
- Being stingy (not wanting to share)
- Feeling regret
- Being sleepy or drowsy
- Being easily distracted
- Feeling dull or slow (Torpor)
- Being angry
- Hiding bad things you've done
Judaism and Vices
Avoiding vices is a very important idea in Jewish ethics, especially in writings known as musar literature.
Christianity and Vices
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Christians believe there are two main types of vices:
- Vices that come from our natural instincts, which can sometimes go wrong.
- Vices that come from worshipping false things in our minds.
The first type is seen as less serious than the second. Vices that Christians see as "spiritual" include blasphemy (disrespecting what is holy), apostasy (losing faith), despair (losing hope), hatred (betraying love), and being uncaring. Christian thinkers believe that the most harmful vice is a type of pride or completely worshipping oneself. They argue that this competitive vice led to the Fall of Man and is worse than anything else often criticized by the Church.
Roman Catholicism
The Roman Catholic Church sees a difference between a vice (which is a habit of sinning) and a sin itself (which is a single wrong act). In Catholicism, "sin" also means the state you are in after doing something wrong. It is the sin, not the vice, that can separate a person from God's grace and make them deserving of punishment.
Even after sins are forgiven, the bad habit (the vice) might still be there. Just as vices are formed by repeatedly giving in to temptation, they can only be removed by repeatedly resisting temptation and doing good things. The stronger the vice, the more effort it takes to get rid of it.
Dante's Seven Deadly Vices
The famous poet Dante Alighieri listed seven main vices, often called the seven deadly vices:
- Pride or vanity: This is an excessive love of oneself. In Latin, it's called superbia.
- Envy or jealousy: Feeling upset or resentful about what others have. In Latin, it's called invidia.
- Wrath or anger: Feelings of hatred, wanting revenge, or being angry beyond what is fair. In Latin, it's called ira.
- Sloth or laziness: Being idle or wasting time and resources. Laziness is seen as bad because it makes others work harder or prevents useful work from being done. In Latin, it's called accidie or acedia.
- Avarice (greed): Wanting to have more than you need or use. Dante described it as "excessive love of money and power." In Latin, it's called avaritia.
- Gluttony: Eating or drinking too much, or loving food just for pleasure. Dante called it "excessive love of pleasure." In Latin, it's called gula.
- Lust: Strong, uncontrolled desires. In Latin, it's called luxuria.
Islam and Vices
The Qur'an and other Islamic writings forbid many actions that are seen as immoral.
Ibn abi Dunya, a scholar from the 800s, wrote about seven "censures" (things to avoid):
- Anger
- Envy
- Slander (spreading false, harmful rumors)
- Obscenity (rude or offensive language/behavior)
- Things that make you drunk
- Things that lead to too much pleasure
Epicureanism and Vices
Epicureanism was an ancient Greek philosophy, not a religion. It taught a way to deal with vices to achieve a happy life filled with pleasure, using good qualities (virtues). Many of its methods involved questioning wrong beliefs and finding beliefs that fit with nature. Epicureanism offered a natural way to understand virtue and vice, based on wisely seeking pleasure.
See also
In Spanish: Vicio para niños
