On page 5 Taylor claims that there is a lack of awareness when someone acts viciously (acts according to the vices), that the agent acts in this manor because he/she is confused or ignorant. I would have to disagree with this statement. Children and young teens may be acting in this manor due to confusion or ignorance but I don’t find it convincing argument for adults. For a man or a woman in the grip of the vices must realize, even if they do not want to fully admit it, that was they are doing is not virtuous. For example, a gluttonous man who is constantly over eating must realize that he consumes a good amount more than others and he would therefore have to be aware of his gluttony. I concede that someone who is only slightly gluttonous may have a hard time realizing this.
The vices do not lie in the confusion and ignorance of the agent, instead I feel they are a result of emotional instability and partly due to habit. For example an envious person may lack confindence in herself and therefore constantly envy what other people have, for she lacks the confidence to see what is truly unique and wonderful about her life. Another example is of a slothful person. This person could either act in this manor as a result of habit or emotional instability. They may be depressed which leads to their inactivity or they may have grown up in a household where they were never asked to help out as a child, and therefore their laziness is a result of habit.
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I disagree with this point due to the idea of habituation. The agent could easily have a vice ingrained in their daily actions without the slightest realization of their troubles. As well, the agent could have been unknowingly deceived by a moral superior (teacher, coach, parent), who suffers from their own vices and passed their vices on.
In this case, yes the agent would begin exhibiting vices at a young age, but they would easily grow up confused as to why their actions breed contention and ignorant to their vices.
A specific example would be a second generation football lineman, who from a young age was larger than most children but still ate with a gluttonous appetite. His father, the first NFL lineman in his family instills the concept of gluttonly firmly in his child.
Now the child grows up, failing at football, but set in stone as to his eating habits and size, confused as to why he is so overweight and ignorant as to his horrid missteps.
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