Editing Vice

{{Short description|Immoral or depraved behavior or habit}}
{{for multi|the media company|Vice Media|the mechanical gripping device|Vise|other uses|Vice (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2024}}
[[File:Die Tugend ruft die Jugend zurück (aus den Armen der Sünde), 1806-1807 - Johann Heinrich Füssli.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Henry Fuseli]], ''[[Virtue]] reclaiming Youth from the arms of Vice'', 1806–1807.]]
A '''vice''' is a practice, behaviour, [[Habit (psychology)|habit]] or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhealthy habit.{{fact|date=May 2023}} Vices are usually associated with a fault in a person's character or temperament rather than their morality.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Vice |translator-last=McAlpin |translator-first=Mary |place=Ann Arbor |publisher=Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/did2222.0000.010?view=text;rgn=main |access-date=1 April 2015 |encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert - Collaborative Translation Project |date=October 2002 |hdl = 2027/spo.did2222.0000.010 |last1 = Louis |first1 = Chevalier de Jaucourt}} Translation of {{cite encyclopedia |title=Vice |encyclopedia=Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers |volume=17 |place=Paris |year=1765}}.</ref> 

Synonyms for vice include fault, [[sin]], depravity, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption. The antonym of vice is [[virtue]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thesaurus.com/browse/vice|title=Vice|publisher=Thesaurus.com|access-date=2012-06-30|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524010228/http://thesaurus.com/browse/vice|archive-date=2012-05-24}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The modern English term that best captures its original meaning is the word ''vicious'', which means "full of vice". In this sense, the word ''vice'' comes from the [[Latin]] word ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#vitium|vitium]]'', meaning "failing or defect".<ref>{{cite dictionary|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=vice+&searchmode=none|title=Vice|dictionary=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=2012-06-30|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129114109/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=vice+&searchmode=none|archive-date=2014-11-29}}</ref><ref>This meaning is completely separate from the word ''vice'' when used as an official title to indicate a [[wikt:deputy|deputy]], substitute or subordinate, as in [[vice president]], vice-chancellor or [[viceroy]]. The etymology of this usage derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of".</ref>

== Law enforcement ==
Depending on the country or jurisdiction, vice crimes may or may not be treated as a separate category in the [[Criminal code|criminal codes]]. Even in jurisdictions where vice is not explicitly delineated in the legal code, the term ''vice'' is often used in law enforcement and judicial systems as an umbrella term for crimes involving activities that are considered inherently [[Immorality|immoral]], regardless of the legality or objective harm involved.

In the United Kingdom, the term ''vice'' is commonly used in law and law enforcement to refer to criminal offences related to [[prostitution]] and [[pornography]].<ref name="police">{{cite web|url=http://www.met.police.uk/co/clubs_and_vice/index.htm|title=Metropolitan Police Service - Please Wait...|publisher=met.police.uk|access-date=2014-09-13|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511230918/http://www.met.police.uk/co/clubs_and_vice/index.htm|archive-date=2013-05-11}}</ref> In the United States, the term is also used to refer to [[drug prohibition law|crimes related to drugs]], alcohol, and [[Gaming law|gambling]].<ref name="Hess 2008 p. 209">{{harvtxt|Hess|Orthmann|2008|p=209}}</ref>

===Vice squad===
[[File:Vice squad interrogation in Calumet City 1912 ichicdn n059451.jpg|thumb|A 1912 portrait of Frankie Fore, sitting in a room during a vice raid in [[Calumet City, Illinois|Calumet City]] (formerly known as West Hammond), Illinois.]]
[[File:Mukfellas.png|thumb|In Saudi Arabia, the [[Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)|Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice]] is the vice squad authority.]]

{{redirect|Vice squad}}
A vice squad, also called a '''vice unit''' or a '''morality squad''', is generally, though not always, a police division, whose focus is to restrain or suppress moral crimes. Though what is considered or accepted as a moral crime by society often varies considerably according to local laws or customs between nations, countries, or states, it often includes activities such as [[gambling]], [[narcotics]], [[prostitution]] and [[pornography]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vice+squad|title=Vice squad|publisher=The Free Dictionary By Farlex|access-date=2012-05-31|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050921013607/http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vice%20squad|archive-date=2005-09-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Franklin |first=James |author-link=James Franklin (philosopher) |date=2022 |title=Catholic Action, Sydney Style: Catholic lay organisations from friendly societies to the Vice Squad |url=https://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/vicesquadpublished.pdf |journal=Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society |volume=108 |issue=2 |pages=172–201 |doi= |access-date=2 Jan 2023}}</ref>

== Religion ==
[[Religious police]], for example [[Islamic religious police]] units or [[sharia]] police in certain Muslim countries, are morality squads that also monitor, for example, [[Islam and clothing|dress codes]], observance of store-closures during prayer time, [[Islamic dietary laws|consumption of unlawful beverages or foods]], [[zina|unrelated males and females socializing]], and homosexual behaviour.

=== Buddhism ===
{{see also|Buddhist views on sin|Buddhist ethics}}
In the [[Sarvastivadin]] tradition of [[Buddhism]], there are 108 defilements, or vices, which are prohibited. These are subdivided into 10 bonds and 98 proclivities.<ref name="Hirasawa 1998 p. 202">{{harvtxt|Hirakawa|Groner|1998|p=202}}</ref> The 10 bonds are the following:<ref name="Hirasawa 1998 p. 202" />
* Absence of [[shame]]
* Absence of [[embarrassment]]
* Jealousy
* [[:wikt:parsimony|Parsimony]] (in the sense of stinginess)
* Remorse
* Drowsiness
* Distraction
* [[Torpor]]
* Anger
* Concealment of wrongdoing

=== Judaism ===
{{main|Jewish ethics}}
Avoiding vice is an important theme in [[Jewish ethics]], especially within [[musar literature]].

=== Christianity ===
{{main|Christian ethics}}
[[File:Stiftskirche Niederhaslach Glasfenster (Kampf der Tugenden mit dem Laster).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Virtue]]s fighting vices, stained glass window (14th century) in the [[Niederhaslach Church]]]]
{{More citations needed section|date=December 2021}}

Christians believe there are two kinds of vice:{{Citation needed|reason=Can it be stated that these distinctions truly apply broadly across the entire Christian world?|date=April 2010}}
* Vices that come from the physical organism as instincts, which can become perverse (such as lust)
* Vices that come from false idolatry in the spiritual realm

The first kind of vice, though sinful, is believed less serious than the second. Vices recognized as spiritual by Christians include [[blasphemy]] ([[Sacred|holiness]] betrayed), [[apostasy]] ([[faith]] betrayed), despair ([[hope]] betrayed), [[hatred]] ([[Love (religious views)|love]] betrayed), and indifference (scripturally, a "hardened heart"). Christian theologians have reasoned that the most destructive vice equates to a certain type of [[pride]] or the complete idolatry of the self. It is argued that through this vice, which is essentially competitive, all the worst evils come into being. In Christian theology, it originally led to the [[Fall of Man]], and, as a purely diabolical spiritual vice, it outweighs anything else often condemned by the Church.

==== Roman Catholicism ====<!-- This section is linked from [[Lust]] -->
The [[Roman Catholic|Roman Catholic Church]] distinguishes between vice, which is a habit of sin, and the sin itself, which is an individual morally wrong act. In Roman Catholicism, the word ''sin'' also refers to the state that befalls one upon committing a morally wrong act. In this section, the word always means the sinful act. It is the sin, and not the vice, that deprives one of God's [[sanctifying grace]] and renders one deserving of God's [[Hell in Christian beliefs#hell in Rom Cath|punishment]]. [[Thomas Aquinas]] taught that "absolutely speaking, the sin surpasses the vice in wickedness".<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15403c.htm Entry for ''vice''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405184628/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15403c.htm |date=2007-04-05 }} at NewAdvent.org online Catholic Encyclopedia.</ref> On the other hand, even after a person's sins have been [[Sacrament of Penance (Catholic Church)|forgiven]], the underlying habit (the vice) may remain. Just as vice was created in the first place by repeatedly yielding to the temptation to sin, so vice may be removed only by repeatedly resisting temptation and performing virtuous acts; the more entrenched the vice, the more time and effort needed to remove it. Saint [[Thomas Aquinas]] says that following rehabilitation and the acquisition of virtues, the vice does not persist as a habit, but rather as a mere disposition and one that is in the process of being eliminated. Medieval illuminated manuscripts circulated with colorful schemas for developing proper attitudes, with scriptural allusions modelled on nature: the [[tree of virtues]] as blossoming flowers or vices bearing sterile fruit, The Renaissance writer [[Pietro Bembo]] is credited with reaffirming and promoting the Christian perfection of classical humanism. Deriving all from love (or the lack thereof) his<ref>[http://www.italnet.nd.edu/Dante/images/tp1515/1515.wc3.150dpi.jpeg Flow diagram leading to the deeper-seated vices in purgatory] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505235431/http://www.italnet.nd.edu/Dante/images/tp1515/1515.wc3.150dpi.jpeg |date=2012-05-05 }}</ref> schemas were added as supplements<ref>[http://www.italnet.nd.edu/Dante/text/1515.venice.html Aldus' second edition printing of Dante's Divine Comedy, Venice 1502.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205212641/http://www.italnet.nd.edu/Dante/text/1515.venice.html |date=2012-02-05 }}</ref> in the newly invented technology of printing by [[Aldus Manutius]] in his editions of Dante's Divine Comedy dating from early in the 16th century.

=== Dante's seven deadly vices ===
{{Main|Divine Comedy|Seven deadly sins}}
The poet [[Dante Alighieri]] listed the following [[Seven deadly sins|seven deadly vices]], associating them structurally<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wolfram.demon.co.uk/purgatory4.gif |title=Image |access-date=2012-02-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205191100/http://www.wolfram.demon.co.uk/purgatory4.gif |archive-date=2012-02-05 }}</ref> as flaws in the soul's inherent capacity for goodness as made in the Divine Image yet perverted by the Fall:

#[[Hubris|Pride]] or [[vanity]]: an excessive love of the self (holding the self outside of its proper position regarding God or fellows; Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbour"). In the Latin lists of the [[Seven Deadly Sins]], pride is referred to as ''superbia''.
#[[Envy]] or [[jealousy]]: resentment of others for their possessions (Dante: "love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, envy is referred to as ''invidia''.
#[[Wrath]] or [[anger]]: feelings of hatred, revenge or denial, as well as punitive desires outside of justice (Dante's description was "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, wrath is referred to as ''ira'', which primitive vices tempt astray by increasingly perverting the proper purpose of charity, directing it inwards, leading to a disordered navel-gazing preoccupation with personal goods in isolation absent proper harmonious relations leading to violent disruption of balance with others.
#[[Sloth (deadly sin)|Sloth]] or [[laziness]]: idleness and wastefulness of time or other allotted resources. Laziness is condemned because it results in others having to work harder; also, useful work will not be done. Sloth is referred to in Latin as ''accidie'' or ''acedia'', which vice tempts a self-aware soul to be too easily satisfied, thwarting charity's purpose as insufficiently perceptible within the soul itself or abjectly indifferent in relationship with the needs of others and their satisfaction, an escalation in evil, more odious than the passion of hate
#[[Seven deadly sins#Greed|Avarice]] (covetousness, greed): a desire to possess more than one has need or use for (or according to Dante, "excessive love of money and power"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, avarice is referred to as ''avaritia''.
#[[Gluttony]]: overindulgence in food, drink or intoxicants, or misplaced desire of food as a pleasure for its sensuality ("excessive love of pleasure" was Dante's rendering). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, gluttony is referred to as ''gula''.
#[[Lust]]: excessive sexual desire. Dante's criterion was that "lust detracts from true love". In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, lust is referred to as ''luxuria'', which vices tempt cultivated souls in their ability to direct charity's proper purpose to good things or actions, by indulging excess. Thus in Dante's estimation, the soul's detachment from sensual appetites become the vices most difficult to tame, urges not as easily curbed by mere good manners since inflamed via appropriate use rather than inappropriate misuse. Hence conventional respect for the ninth and tenth commandments against coveting and social customs that encourage custody of the eyes and ears become prudent adjuncts to training against vice.
The first three terraces of purgatory expiate the sins which can be considered to arise from love perverted, that is, sins which arise from the heart of the sinner being set upon something which is wrong in the eyes of God. Those being purged here must have their love set upon the right path. The fourth terrace of purgatory expiates the sins which can be considered to arise from love defective, that is, love which, although directed towards the correct subjects is too weak to drive the sinner to act as they should. Those being purged here must have their love strengthened so as to drive them correctly. The fifth, sixth, and seventh terraces of purgatory expiate the sins which can be considered to arise from love excessive, that is, love which although directed towards ends which God considers good is directed towards them too much for the sinner to gain bliss from them, and also so that the sinner is distracted from the love of other things of which God approves. Their love must be cooled to a more sensible level.

=== Islam ===
{{see also|Islamic views on sin|Islamic ethics}}
The [[Qur'an]] and many other Islamic religious writings provide prohibitions against acts that are seen as immoral.

[[Ibn abi Dunya]], a 9th-century scholar and tutor to the caliphs, described 6 ''censures'' (prohibitions against vices) in his writings:<ref>{{harvtxt|Goodman|2005|p=37}}</ref>
* Ire
* [[Envy]]
* [[Defamation|Slander]]
* [[Obscenity]]
* Intoxicants
* Instruments of pleasure

=== Epicureanism ===

Although not strictly a religion but a Hellenistic philosophy, [[Epicurean]] ethics prescribes a therapeutic approach to the vices with the goal of attaining a life of pleasure with the aid of the virtues. Most of the techniques used in Epicureanism involve challenging false beliefs and attaining beliefs that are aligned with nature. In this, Epicureanism posits an entirely naturalistic, non-religious theory of virtue and vice based on the rational pursuit of pleasure.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://societyofepicurus.com/philodemus-method-of-studying-and-cultivating-the-virtues/ |title=Philodemus' Method of Studying and Cultivating the Virtues |date=26 May 2020 |access-date=2020-05-26 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Catalogue of Vices and Virtues]]
* [[Golden mean (philosophy)]]
* [[Moral character]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}
*All [[etymology|etymologies]] are according to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''.

== References ==
*Aristotle, trans. H. Rackman. ''Virtues and Vices'', Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1992. vol. 285.
* {{cite book | title=Islamic Humanism | last=Goodman |first=Lenn E. | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2005 | isbn=978-0-19-518914-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qoFKjfy4eoYC}}
* {{cite book | title=Introduction to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice |last1=Hess |first1=Kären M. |last2=Orthmann |first2=Christine Hess | year=2008 | publisher=Wadsworth | location=Belmont, CA | isbn=978-0-495-39090-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CdxKm_ypYyMC}}
* {{cite book | title=A history of Indian Buddhism: from Śākyamuni to early Mahāyāna |last1=Hirakawa |first1=Akira |last2=Groner |first2=Paul | year=1998 | publisher=Motilal Banarsidass | isbn=978-81-208-0955-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjjwjC7rcOYC}}
*Newhauser, Richard, ed. ''In the Garden of Evil: The Vices and Culture in the Middle Ages''. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto 2005. {{ISBN|0-88844-818-X}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Vices}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090513003646/http://literalmagazine.com/es/archive-L14.php A bilingual Magazine dedicated to Vices and Addictions]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Habits]]
[[Category:Concepts in ethics]]
[[Category:Sin]]
[[Category:Crime]]
[[Category:Virtue ethics]]