Final answer:
Understanding and managing our feelings about feelings is crucial in developing virtue, as emphasized by philosophers such as Aristotle and the Stoics. Reflecting on our emotions through metacognition and rational self-control is essential to cultivate virtues and avoid vices that result from unregulated emotional reactions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Discussing the virtues and vices associated with feelings about feelings, we can say that understanding our emotional responses is vital to personal virtue. The philosophers like Aristotle and the Stoics emphasized that our character is shaped through our actions and habits, including how we respond to our emotions. Aristotle suggested that virtues arise from acting in certain ways consistently. In contrast, vices develop from succumbing to passions without reflection. The Stoics encouraged rational self-control and were wary of the disruption caused by strong emotions. Therefore, recognizing and managing emotions through tools like metacognition helps in the cultivation of virtues. Reflecting on our emotional responses, such as anger, and considering the consequences is essential. This can be seen as an exercise in virtue. However, if we respond to emotions without reflection, we may encourage vice. For example, acting on anger without considering its impact leads to further trouble. Thus, to build virtues, we must approach feelings with a balance of introspection and rationality, acknowledging the guidance they offer but not becoming their slave. Attributed to the understandings of philosophers like Aristotle and the Stoics, virtues are cultivated through deliberate and reflective action in response to emotions, which contrasts with the unmoderated submission to feelings leading to vice.