I use the word virtue, but the concept I wish to define more closely resembles the  Latin words “poten liber” or “poten libre,” the power to free and the power to be free.   Virtue, the English word, is derived from Latin virtus directly, and indirectly I believe from the Greek word arete, which according to Wikipedia has not come into ordinary English. To some degree, I am taking a liberty to redefine the English word, a definition which I believe to be more accurate, meaningful, and useful. To understand what I am talking about, conceptually, I will begin with the antonym of the word virtue, vice, since most people are more readily cognizant of its meaning.  However, I will further confine the meaning and use a synonym of vice to more closely narrow the definition, addiction.  Addiction is the loss of autonomy or individual freedom to act, the ability to choose freely, and another synonym for this word is dependence.  An antonym of dependence is independence or liberty/freedom.   Hence, we arrive back at the concept I am here defining, virtue.  Virtue, poten liber and poten libre, is the power of independence, of freedom, personal, spiritual, and political.  This virtue is an umbrella term of many concepts, words, all of which to varying degrees support the power of freedom and liberty.  For example, love, faith, self-responsibility, all are necessary for freedom to flourish, and all are virtues.  Hatred, stagnation, avoidance of responsibility, all are vices and are destructive to freedom and liberty. When I use the word virtue, it is not as some stagnant concept, but as a natural law and a source of power.  It is a concept that has been accepted and utilized by renowned thinkers, and to some degree by all major religions. Those most possessing of, or possessed by, the virtues are the most autonomous, independent, free, and powerful.