The four cardinal virtues.
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EDIT: Both this and the previous post make arguments very similar to that made here by Michael Beaty.
Virtue-based arguments against premarital sex have typically appealed to temperance, with lust being regarded as a sort of sexual equivalent to gluttony. For example, Aquinas writes:
Sexual lust is a sin contrary to temperance insofar as temperance moderates desires for things pleasurable to touch regarding sex, just as gluttony is contrary to temperance insofar as temperance moderates desires regarding things pleasurable to touch in food and drink. (2003, 420)
I don’t wish to dispute that. However, after writing my last post, it occurred to me that one could also view lust as being a sin against prudence. After all, we have very good evidence that premarital sex is associated with higher rates of divorce and infidelity, as well as lower rates of marital happiness.1 Insofar as it is imprudent to do things which increase one’s risk of future misery, it seems that it will therefore be imprudent to engage in premarital sex.
Maybe we should view chastity as being a sort of combination of temperance and prudence as pertaining to sexual morality. I think I’ve seen a view like this expressed before, but I’m not positive.
Note that the link between premarital sex and divorce was found to be “robust to controls for beliefs and values, religious background, family relationships, personality characteristics, and mental health in adolescence” (Smith and Wolfinger 2023, 2). Wolfinger also notes that religiosity cannot explain the link between number of sexual partners and marital happiness. So it does not seem that these figures are simply a reflection of the differing beliefs of those involved (e.g. “religious conservatives avoid premarital sex and they don’t get divorced”).