A Comparative Study of the Views of Kristjansson, Battaly and Martyr Motahhari on the Effect of Theoretical Wisdom and Modeling on Moral Character

“Moral character” is a subject related to the psyche and an important topic in moral psychology. The question is whether the formation of moral character is inherent and unchangeable. If it is acquired, what factors affect it? If a character becomes vicious, is it possible to correct it? Considering the importance of the aforementioned questions, it was necessary to study the issue of “shaping and reforming moral character” and compare the factors affecting it from the viewpoint of Kristjansson, Battaly and Motahhari in the present article. Kristjansson believes that vices can be corrected by the internal factor of theoretical wisdom. Battaly emphasizes the tremendous impact of the external factor of modeling. But Motahhari’s vision shows that, in addition to accepting the issue of forming and reforming the moral character and unlike those two Western philosophers, he considers necessary the existence of both factors of the theoretical wisdom and modeling, and from this perspective, his view has special comprehensiveness in relation to the two western approaches.