I’d consider a virtuous act to be any act made out of what the said person considered to be of high morals whether it was truly selfless or not. I also don’t think acts or deeds have to be anything big to be considered virtuous. I’d say it’s more of a variable and individual thing (relative), rather than a defined set term that can apply to everyone. An example could be how some people believe putting an injured animal out of its “misery” is a moral deed, even though it results in the animal’s death whereas others would consider that immoral or even akin it to murder irrespective of the animal’s suffering because life is only given to any one person or thing once (not going to into anything about heaven or reincarnation etc). To one person that could be a virtuous act, and to another it could be far from it but from both perspectives, “selfless” can still come into play because both of them had concerns for the injured animal rather than themselves even though neither of them were in danger, but my point is to one person ending the animal’s life was the virtuous way to go and to the other, attempting to heal the animal even though there was no guarantee for survival was virtuous instead. It is something that will vary from person to person and there will never be a right or wrong answer.
High morals (to me) also doesn’t necessarily mean the most selfless or the best, sometimes they come with judgement of others (whether it’s intentional or not) who do not possess the same set of morals or who do things that a said person would consider below the standard of their own morals.
Another example of that could be a woman who prefers to wait til marriage before consummation, whereas another woman believes that isn’t necessary, at least not for herself. The first woman could see losing her virginity after marriage as a virtuous act in accordance with her own morals, but the other woman does not fit that set of morals, she instead might find that a man simply staying faithful to her before marriage is virtuous or she might consider him just being honest as virtuous.
Two different women. Two different sets of morals. Two different views on virtue.
An act of virtue can happen if they wanted to do it, or if they felt they needed to do it rather than wanted or if they felt they simply had to because it was in line with their morals, perhaps because it was expected of them or they were truly selfless and it was just their nature. It can happen because they were too afraid of what might happen in future (or near future) if they didn’t do a said act, whether it’s death, humiliation, blame, etc. What could be considered a “virtuous” act could even come about by accident rather than intention.
Well… that came out longer than expected and it’s time for me to go to sleep. 