Instead of an indefinitely ramifying list of duties to achieve this ideal, Herbart proposes that the sense of art or Kunstsinn can help us gain an overview of virtue (SW II: 415). That is, life’s circumstances appear as a matter to be formed, and the virtuous person is able to judge the finest way in which a situation should be handled (SW II: 416). But because the artistic sense is in constant conflict with external forces and internal feelings, it must be continually rekindled (SW II: 417). Hence, the Ideal of virtue can be at best asymptotically approached and it is this approach that Herbart calls “morality”. Since an approach implies a temporal sequence, human life may be understood as a chain of ethical actions and passions (SW II: 417, f.).