The mean between excess vices and deficient vices must always be pursued. Vices cause us to not act virtuous in dealing with pleasure and pain. An illustration of this could be when a person endures pain with courage, he or she is balancing pain and pleasure. This balance becomes an index of the person's virtue. There are two different aspects of the soul: the irrational and the rational. The irrational is present in all living things and responsible for nurture and growth. Two different parts of the irrational include the vegetative and the seat of appetites and desire. Anything vegetative, like basic survival methods, could be considered irrational. Since the vegetative does not involve reason, it does not have anything to do with virtue. However, the seat of appetites can be somewhat influenced by the rational part of the soul, in that our decisions can be made according to what seems most reasonable. .
The rational can also be divided up by what a person knows is intrinsically reasonable, and the ability of a person to listen to or be convinced by someone else's reason. Two aspects of virtue, the intellectual and the moral, are divided very similarly to these different aspects of soul. Intellectual virtues include theoretical wisdom, understanding, and practical wisdom. Practical wisdom involves making choices only after careful deliberation. Moral virtues are praiseworthy characteristics that include generosity and self-control. True virtue entails finding a mean or balance between the intellectual and moral aspects of virtue. " virtue of a character is a mean and what sort of mean it is; that it is a mean between two vices- (Nicomachean Ethics 1109a-20) Aristotle emphasizes that balance between each of these three different extremes is a vital part of being a virtuous person. Having too much of one characteristic becomes an excess or deficient vice and is very detrimental to a person.
