So...I was thinking this week about whether bad actions make bad people, and the conclusion was easy enough- no. We've all done bad things but we're not deemed bad people, nor do others deem us bad people. So what makes bad people? It was the intermediary stages between actions and character that confused me.
Et voila...I stumbled across a book today that explained the matter perfectly. Every virtue is like the centre of a circle, and every vice is a deviation from that centre. Essentially, for every virtue, there is an infinite number of vices- there is only one centre, but an infinite number of points other than the centre of the circle. The further you are from the centre, the worse.
And I suppose "bad people" lie at, or beyond, the circumferences of these circles.
Intriguing. I would have factored in also intention, as well history - the more someone commits these vices, the more likely (though not absolutely) that they are not angelic.
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