Virtue Ethics is:
A normative, Agent Centered philosophical approach that urges people to live a moral life by cultivating virtuous habits.
Plato, Aristotle in the West
‘The Golden Mean’
both focus on traits, not rules (cannot be formulated)
Buddhism in the East
‘The Middle Way’
both focus on traits, not rules (cannot be formulated)
Central Question of Virtue Ethics:
What characteristics are crucial to a good and full human life?
* one is Virtue, i.e., excellence of human character
What is Virtue?
Balance, harmony: not too much nor too little of good thing. Integrity, trustworthiness, being ‘able’, being compassionate…
HUMAN EXCELLENCE.
Aristotle – Virtue Ethics
Text from the Nicomachian Ethics
About Aretē = means both **‘virtue’ ** and ‘functional excellence’
The aim is happiness
Specifically, happiness achieved while behaving well….
ARISTOTLE’S
2 questions:
- How does one become virtuous?
- What constitutes virtuous behaviour?
Aristotle – 1. How to become virtuous:
- Intellectual virtue
- Moral virtue
Intellectual virtue:
derived from learning, study.
Moral Virtue:
Not learned from books
Not natural
Natural capacity only
derived from habituation
Aristotle on how to develop virtuous character:
To develop morally virtuous character, make morally virtuous acts into habits.
Dialectical Relation between actions and character (analogy):
e.g., virtue (excellence) in being a builder
Build houses well
Leads to
Development of ** good builder characteristics**, i.e., virtue
Leads to
Greater ease of, pleasure from, building houses well; difficult to not build houses well
Moral action leads to…
Moral character
leads to
Greater ease of, pleasure from, moral action
Implications:
* dialectical relation between actions and character
* early years crucial
* shown (or forced…) to behave morally (it’s drilled into you…)
* becomes habit to act morally; difficult not to
Moral Character (def.)
a person habituated to acting in morally virtuous way.
If habituated to being good, then…
(Aristotle)
- easier to do the good than the bad
- doing the good causes pleasure
- doing the bad causes pain
If habituated to being bad, then…
- easier to do the bad than the good
- doing the bad causes pleasure
- doing the good causes pain
The Golden Mean:
Balance, harmony: not too much nor too little of good thing. Integrity, trustworthiness, being ‘able’, being compassionate…
Golden Mean:
e.g. physical exercise:
Deficiency: strength withers
The mean: Maximum strength achieved at mean between excess and deficiency of exercise
Excess: damage to muscles, tendons, etc.
Aristotle: Physical qualities remain undeveloped or are destroyed by either excess or deficiency.
Aristotle – 2. What is Virtuous Behaviour:
“It is not easy to determine accurately in what fashion and with whom and on what grounds and for how long one ought to get angry…”
“It is not easy to set out in a rule how much and in what fashion one must diverge from the mean to be blameworthy…”
psyche:
The soul.
A: Raw capacities of the soul:
(Aristotle)
Tolerance/lack
Self-control/lack
Courage/lack
Moderation/lack
Generosity/lack…
B: Reason
reasoning – Logic, empirical measure, etc.
Virtue aretē (def.):
“The character that makes him a good person, and which causes him to perform his own function well.”
Virtuous person
one who acts well and, through acting well, achieves happiness (his/her ‘function’)
who ‘acts well’ = person who habitually seeks and finds the mean
