Final answer:
The opposite of virtue that is learned through habit is vice. Aristotle posits in his Nicomachean Ethics that moral virtue is the result of habitual virtuous acts, thus advocating for the practice of deliberate and repeated actions to develop virtuous behavior. Virtuous habits align behavior with the golden mean of neither excess nor deficiency, contributing to well-being and moral development.
Step-by-step explanation:
The opposite of virtue, which involves immoral behavior, and is learned through habit rather than innate, can be identified as vice. According to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, while intellectual virtue is derived mainly from teaching and requires experience, moral virtue is developed through habituation. The virtues are not innate but are qualities that we are adapted by nature to receive and perfect through habitual actions.
Aristotle emphasizes that we acquire virtues by doing virtuous acts repeatedly, in the same way that a builder becomes skilled through building or a lyre player through playing the lyre. Hence, we become just by performing just acts and brave by doing brave acts. This process of forming virtuous habits enables individuals to find the mean, which is the correct behavior in any given situation — neither excessive nor deficient.
This ethical framework suggests that behavior and character are developed through practice and repeated actions, that lead us to become virtuous or vicious. The implications for an individual seeking to become virtuous is the importance of cultivating the right habits and deliberately engaging in actions that align with virtue, so as to establish patterns of behavior that promote well-being and moral excellence.