Similarities

We have been examining character traits by looking at them as persons. The incontinent person is one who lacks self restraint yet wants to do what is right. Those who are naturally temperate don't have to use as much self restraint. That is why we shouldn't judge others; we all have areas of difficulty that we need to work on. We will look at this even closer but first lets look at characteristics that are sometimes confused with each other.

A person who is stubborn has similarities to someone who is temperate and has self control. The difference is the objective. A hard headed person gets pleasure by being right. It doesn't matter if they are or not. This person will feel humiliated and can't imagine being wrong. You can try to debate them, but finding truth isn't as pleasurable to them as being deemed the authority and having others submit to it. This is also similar to wisdom and they want to appear wise. They want to look that way but use the shortcut of arrogance rather than honest debate. This kind of attitude can permeate a life so much that it is hard to be around them. They try to get their own way at the expense of good ideas and practices and this makes them poor managers. So in reality they lack self-restraint even though they appear firm.

We can look at other character traits that have similarities but one is good and the other bad. A liberal person gives of his own substance to help others and isn't interested in recognition. But a sacrifice can only be made out of what one owns. A prodigal wants to be admired in the same way but is too envious to actually be liberal. He gets his resources for giving by using other people's money or takes more than what he is due in transactions. A prodigal tends to overvalue himself. To the recipients, they both look the same, but one is generous and the other a thief since he takes credit for other people's generosity. A confident person and a rash person look similar at times but the confident person has given preparation and thought to actions while the rash person wants to appear confident to everyone but without preparation or forethought.