Temperance

Abstract Given the almost obscene drives encouraged by our modern culture, it is difficult to imagine that any individual, much less a physician, can easily exercise the virtue of temperance. In a society that legitimates conspicuous self-indulgence, the temptations against temperance are many. They range widely, from substance abuse by professionals to the inappropriate use of modern medical technology. Traditionally, temperance is seen as a virtue that controls one’s appetites for food, drink, and sex. But we wish to expand this view to cover some of the more usual temptations of modern professionalism. We do so, as in our other chapters, by first delineating the classical notions of the virtue, then the contemporary extremes that are avoided by cultivating this virtue, and finally, the implications of the virtue for the life of a physician today.