<P> Aristotle tells us that there are good people in the world . These are those who exhibit excellences--excellences of thought and excellences of character . His phrase for excellences of character--êthikai aretai--we usually translate as moral virtue or moral excellence . When we speak of a moral virtue or an excellence of character, the emphasis is on the combination of qualities that make an individual the sort of ethically admirable person that he is . Aristotle defines virtuous character at the beginning of Book II in Nicomachean Ethics: "Excellence of character, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it . Now it is a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect". In Aristotle's view, good character is based on two naturally occurring psychological responses that most people experience without difficulty: our tendency to take pleasure from self - realizing activity and our tendency to form friendly feelings toward others under specific circumstances . Based on his view, virtually everyone is capable of becoming better and they are the ones responsible for actions that express (or could express) their character . </P> <P> Abraham Lincoln once said, "Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow . The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing ." </P> <P> The Book of Genesis says that God created man in his own image . Christian theology asserts that humans are created to act in accordance to the will of their creator (see: Divine command theory). In general, Christians believe this means that the morally correct thing to do is reflect the character of the creator . Christian character is also defined as exhibiting the "Fruit of the Holy Spirit": love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self - control . Doctrines of grace and total depravity assert that--due to original sin--mankind, entirely or in part, was incapable of truly being good without God's intervention; otherwise at best, one could only mimic good behavior for selfish reasons . </P> <P> The Milgram experiment was a study done in the early 1960s that helped measure a person's moral character . Subjects from different socio - economic groups were tested on their willingness to press a buzzer that caused a participant--posing as a subject--in another room to express great pain and distress for giving a wrong answer to a test question . When the subjects raised questions about what they are being asked to do, the experimenter applied mild pressure in the form of appealing to the need to complete the experiment . The Milgram experiment caused a huge amount of criticism among individuals . In post-experiment interviews with subjects Milgram noted that many were completely convinced of the wrongness of what they were doing . Although the subjects may have had moral values, many were criticized on whether they were a truly moral character . </P>

Which type of character exhibits only one or two qualities