of man." First I will start with the most important virtue of them all, prudence, and then move on to justice, fortitude, and finally temperance.
             The first and most important virtue is the virtue of prudence. This is known as the mother of all virtues because it is the first step towards working to become a good human being. "...none but the prudent man can be just, brave, and temperate, and the good man is good in so far as he is prudent." This quote here is the best explanation that can be given to show the importance of prudence to the Christian doctrine of man. From this quote we see that prudence is necessary in order for a human being to be just, brave, and temperate. The reason prudence is so crucial is because it is the ability to make good decisions. In order for a human being to be able to make good decisions he or she must be able to know what is good and what is not good. There is a very special relationship between the virtue of prudence and the idea of good. "Classical Christian ethics maintains that man can be prudent and good only simultaneously; that prudence is part and parcel of the definition of goodness." It is very important for one to understand this unique relationship between prudence and the idea of goodness. One cannot have one without the other. Prudence is the whole idea of one being able to recognize what is good and always be able to act in the good way. We will see later how this relationship is also very vital to the virtue of justice.
             The virtue of prudence is the hardest to attain due to the fact that a human being must be able to recognize what is good. This makes it necessary for the person to also be able to know what is good and what constitutes what good is. This is not something that we can all be able to do overnight; the ability to know what is good is something that can only be attained through moral and just thinking. When a person begins...