((Semi-directed to Justine, in response to their network conversation, but on the public network and open because Leisha totally doesn't mind if others weigh in. It's educational.))
I think I figured it out.
Survival isn't a virtue. Immoral people survive. Animals survive. Survival in itself can't be considered virtuous. What it is, though, is a value, something that people want to keep. You have to live a virtuous life and pursue excellence precisely because you want to get the things that you value, and hold on to them, and survival, except in a few extreme sets of circumstances that aren't so relevant to most of our lives, has got to be the fundamental value. Like I said, if you're dead you can't be virtuous or excellent or really much of anything.