VIRTUE ETHICS
Aristotle
Virtue Ethics
• A philosophy developed by • This character-based
Aristotle and other ancient approach to morality
Greeks assumes that we acquire
• It is the quest to virtue through
understand and live a life PRACTICE.
of a moral character.
Virtue Ethics
• a broad term for theories that • a virtuous person is
emphasize the role of character and someone who has ideal
virtue in moral philosophy rather than character traits
either doing one’s duty or acting in
order to bring about good
consequences. A virtue ethicist is likely
to give you this kind of moral advice:
“Act as a virtuous person would act in
your situation.”
Virtue Ethics
• By practicing being honest,
brave, just, generous and so on.
• A person develops an honorable
and a moral character.
Virtue Ethics
• According to Aristotle, by • Virtue Ethics helps us to understand
honing virtuous habits people what it means to be a virtuous human
will likely make the right choice being.
when faced with ethical • A guide for living a life without
challenges. giving us specific rules for solving
ethical dilemmas
Morality
• We first learned morality
• “what is good and what is bad” in a community of character
“What is the good?”
• Virtuous person
The GOOD for humanity is to become a VIRTUOUS
PERSON
ARISTOTLE’
S ETHICS
Virtue Ethics
Greek Philosophers (500BC – 200BC) Timeline The
Great
Three
Plato, 20, meets Socrates, 60 Aristotle, 17, meets Plato, 62
Plato
(429 - 347)
500 BC 200 BC
Socrates Aristotle
(469 - 399) (384 - 322) 9
A Roman copy of a bust of Aristotle by the Greek master, Lysippos in 330 BCE
“We are what we
repeatedly do. Excellence,
then, is not an act, but a
habit.”
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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg
A Roman copy of a bust of Aristotle by the Greek master, Lysippos in 330 BCE
The Nichomachean Ethics is a
collection of Aristotle’s notes,
apparently edited by his son,
Nichomachus.
The work is famous for being
accessible, if not well
organized.
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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg
What is a Virtue?
• What exactly can we define as virtue?
• In this next exercise you will need to pick 5 of the possible
characteristics of a virtuous person
Exercise 1: Pick 5
• Friendship • Justice • Courage
• Temperance • Loyalty • Fortitude (perseverance)
• Honesty • Generosity • Humour
• Ambition • Wealth • Humility
• Faithfulness • Hope • Agape (unconditional love)
• Anger • Obedience
Imagine a person who:
• Always know what to say
• Can diffuse a tense situation
• Deliver a tough news gracefully
• Brave but not reckless
• Is generous but not extravagant
• Confident without being arrogant
VIRTUOUS
VIRTUE
Greek word “arête” skill or excellence.
Morally good
The opposite of virtue is vice.
Virtue Theory
• It does not tell you • ETHICAL THEORY THAT
what you should do. EMPHASIZES AN
• It is not a rule. INDIVIDUAL
CHARACTER
Virtue Theory
Rather than saying, “follow these rules so that you can be a
good person,” Aristotle and other virtue theorists will
reasoned that, if we can just focus on being a good person,
right actions will follow effortlessly.
Why become a virtuous person?
EUDAIMONIA
What does it mean to become virtuous?
•Aristotle argued that
having a virtue just means doing the right
thing, at the right time and at the right way, in
the right amount, toward the right people
What does it mean to become virtuous?
•If you are virtuous, you know what to do. All
the time. You know how to handle yourself and
how to get along with others. You have a good
judgement, you can read a room, you know
what is right and when.
Aristotle’s Ethics
Aristotle is more interested in
• what is good for humans, and
• how we ought to live
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Morality Ethics
• concerning the distinction between • a system of moral principles and a
right and wrong or good and bad branch of philosophy which defines
behavior. what is good for individuals and
• a particular system of values and society.
principles of conduct, especially one • www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/i
held by a specified person or society. ntro_1.shtml
• the extent to which an action is right
or wrong.
Highest Good
Aristotle begins the Nichomachean Ethics considering all the disagreement
among us about what is best of all the goods:
pleasure, honor, love, wealth, fame, glory, etc.
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Highest Good
He uses a distinction between instrumental and intrinsic
goods to find the best, highest good.
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Instrumental and Intrinsic Good
Instrumental good = something good as a means to something else
Having a tan? Good for getting a date
Having a date? Good for falling in love
Being in love? Good for its own sake (intrinsically),
and for happiness (as a means to happiness)
Being happy? Good for its own sake, and as a
means to … NOTHING
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Why pleasure is not happiness
• Whatever the human good is, it should capture what is distinctive
about human beings
• If a life that only aims in satisfying bodily pleasures, it isn’t fit for
human beings.
• But pleasure is shared with other animals
• Therefore, pleasure is not the human good
Honor is not happiness
• Honor is dependent on what others think of us. It is thus
too superficial.
• People pursue honors to reassure themselves that they are
good—so honor is not pursued for its own sake.
• Wealth also is not happiness for the same reason—we
pursue wealth for the sake of something else
The Highest Good
It seems that happiness is not desired for anything other than itself. It is intrinsically
desirable but not instrumentally so.
Is that true of anything else? Try out …
• Honor? Good for its own sake(to please people, for self), but also as a
means to happiness.
• Fame? Good for its own sake (to be recognize) , but also as a means to
happiness.
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HAPPINESS
• Everyone admits what the goal is: Happiness. Happiness is pursued
for its own sake, not just for the sake of something else
Happiness, then, seems to be the highest good for humans.
We desire it for its own sake, but never, seemingly, for anything
else.
It seems self-sufficient.
Do human beings have a
function?
Aristotle argues by analogy: We allow that professions have
functions (coblers, blacksmiths etc) and also that parts of the human
body have a function (eyes, heart, ears etc)
So if human beings are like these things, we should assume that
human beings also have a function
What is our function?
• The function of a human being should be something particular to
human beings.
• It cannot be just life, because all other living things have that. It
cannot be sensation, because that it shared by animals
• It must be reason, because the ability to reason distinguishes human
beings from other things.
Human Nature
The Instrumental/Intrinsic good distinction leads
us to conclude the good for humans is
happiness. There is, however, another method
for identifying the good of something that
Aristotle employs …
He says that the good of a thing is its unique
function:
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PROPER FUNCTIONING
• A thing has a function, and a thing is good if it fulfills its
function, and it becomes bad if doesn’t fulfill its function.
• A knife’s function is to cut, a dull knife is a bad knife
because it can’t function well as a knife.
• A function of a flower is to grow and reproduce, a flower
who does not do that is bad at being a flower.
PROPER FUNCTIONING
Same goes for humans – we’re animals – so all the stuff that
indicate a proper functioning of an animal holds true for us
as well, we need to grow, be healthy, and fertile.
We’re rational and social animal so our function involves
the use of reason and getting along with our pack.
PROPER FUNCTIONING
the good of the eye is seeing, and it’s a good eye
if it sees well
the good of a pen is writing, and it’s a good pen
if it writes well
Aristotle then asks, what is the good of human
beings?
the good of a human is reason, and it’s a good
human if it reasons well.
Humans are rational animals (common definition
of humans in ancient Greece). 36
PROPER FUNCTIONING
Aristotle had a strong influence on St. Thomas Aquinas,
parts of Aristotle thoughts on virtue ended Theory by St.
Thomas Aquinas.
Natural Law Theory
According to Aristotle its all about nature. He argued that
nature has built into us the desire to be virtuous.
Say for example an: Acorn built to become Oak Trees,
Definition of Happiness
We have seen that
THE GOOD is happiness (most desired), and
THE GOOD is reasoning well (by analogical argument)
Aristotle produces his definition of happiness from those 2 lines of reasoning (since happiness and
reasoning well must be the same somehow):
HAPPINESS = REASONING WELL
… or, in Aristotle’s own words:
HAPPINESS = an activity of the soul (reasoning) in conformity with virtue
(reasoning well) so,
happiness is NOT a feeling
happiness is NOT a condition or state of mind
happiness is NOT desire-satisfaction (getting what you want)
happiness is NOT something you can receive 39
Happiness, Again
Why is theoretical reason highest?
1) It has little in common with animal nature
2) It is more god-like
3) Practical reason exists for its sake
What is so great about the life of contemplation?
4) Its pleasure is enduring (we can enjoy its constant, mild pleasure continuously)
5) Its pleasure is certain (if concepts provide your enjoyment, no one can take your toys
away)
The last points, Aristotle says, agree with the common view that true happiness is a
stable, enduring quality
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Highest Good
Highest good may be something consisting the maximization of faculties as
human beings.
What separate human beings from non human animals is our capacity to reason.
So he argues that a good life for human being must include contemplation and
learning.
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Virtue Happiness
In Book I, Chapter 13 of the Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle says:
Since happiness is an activity of the soul in accordance with perfect virtue, we
must consider the nature of virtue; for perhaps we shall thus see better the
nature of happiness.
So, let’s look! …
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Virtue
Aristotle: to understand happiness, we must understand
virtue…
Doing something well or with excellence is one definition of
a virtue.
• Things are said to have virtue when they perform the function
proper to them well … the function that is proper to a thing is
called it’s “work
• Screwdrivers drive screws; that is their work, or, loosely
speaking, their virtue
• Also, a thing’s “work” is what only it can do, or what nothing else
can do so well (Plato, Republic, 352-3)
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VIRTUE
Rooney is a “virtuous” footballer
Jesus perfected virtue example “perfect love casts out fear”, “greater
love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends”
(John 14:13)
So we distinguish between moral virtues and intellectual (or other
virtues, like footballing skills), developed by training to produce
excellence .
Different virtues apply in different cultures
Two categories of virtue
Intellectual Virtues Moral Virtues
• Intellectual virtues are virtues • Not innate, rather they are
of the mind. Such as the acquired through repetition
ability to understand, reason and practice, like learning a
and make sound judgement music instrument.
Intellectual virtues may be • It is through the practice and
taught, like logic and the doing that one becomes a
mathematics by teachers. type of person. Over a period
of time virtues become second
nature.
Intellectual Virtues
Acquired through learning
For Humans this “work” is reason (we are rational
animals), composed of
theoretical wisdom (sophia)
scientific reasoning (episteme, gk; scientia, latin), and All 5 are
intuitive understanding (nous) intellectual
practical wisdom/practical reason, prudence (phronesis) virtues, NOT
craft knowledge, skill, art (techne) moral virtues
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Moral Virtues
(And One Intellectual Virtue)
Aristotle identifies 11 moral virtues, all
governed by one intellectual virtue, 6) Right ambition
prudence—good deliberation
7) Good temper
1) Courage
8) Friendliness
2) Temperance
9) Truthfulness
3) Generosity
10) Wit
4) Magnificence (generosity
11) Justice
with wealth)
5) Magnanimity (proper
All except Justice are a
pride) “mean” between extremes
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Anatomy of a Moral Virtue
Cowardliness -------- Courage ---Rashness
Courage is the mean between being a coward and being rash.
A popular example:
When running into battle, the coward lags behind, and the brash or rash
person runs ahead. The courageous person keeps with his or her
mates.
Notice that ‘courage’ above, is not in the middle between the extremes.
That is because prudence, the intellectual virtue that finds the mean,
tells us that being courageous is more like being rash than it is like
being cowardly. In fact, all the virtues depend on prudence for their
existence … we couldn’t discover the moral virtues without skillful
deliberation.
For an example of prudence determining the mean, see Book 3, chapters 6
and 8 (check this link or google for it): http://www.constitution.org/ari/ethic_03.htm
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For Moral Virtue, Reason Must Rule
If a person is courageous or temperate by nature they have moral
virtue, but not in a strict sense; being morally virtuous requires
submitting one’s feelings and actions to reason:
as situations change or more information arrives, understanding changes and reason
adjusts the actions (hollering at your kids, say, becomes coaxing, or vice versa) and
passions (anger, say, becomes consternation, or vice versa)
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How are Moral Virtues Acquired?
Virtues are attained or acquired by practice and habit
We become just by doing just acts, generous by generous acts, temperate by
temperate acts, etc.
So, if virtues are attained by practice and habit (we must do just acts to
become just, and friendly acts to become friendly, etc.), how do we know
what acts are just or friendly in the first place?
1) We learn by observation
2) We ask a virtuous person
3) We use prudence to find the mean, or
the right amount of an action,
the right time for an action,
the right object (immediate and or distant object) for an action,
the right manner of acting, etc.
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Dispositions, not Habits
Moral virtues are not habits; they are:
dispositions to act that are acquired by habituation.
purposive dispositions, lying in a mean determined by
reason
To posses a virtue is
to hold a complex mental framework of the right
feelings, attitudes, understanding, insight, experience,
etc. …
to have a multi-track disposition, unlike a simple habit
such as being a tea drinker or coffee drinker.
For more on multi-track dispositions, see Rosalind Hursthouse on Virtue Ethics:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-virtue/
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Multi-Track Dispositions
Take truthfulness: A truthful person …
◦ tells the truth (but not indiscreetly)
◦ raises kids to do so
◦ encourages other to do so
◦ doesn’t find jokes about dishonesty funny
◦ is surprised and saddened by dishonesty in friends
◦ doesn’t provide the truth to those intending to misuse it
◦ cares about truth for its own sake (values it above
personal feelings, say)
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To Sum Up Moral Virtue
A morally virtuous person, then, ideally,
Has all eleven moral virtues
Each virtue is established by practice and habit, subjecting feelings
and actions to reason
Each virtue is settled between excess and deficiency by
comprehensive understanding, or multi-track assessment
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INTELLECTUAL MORAL
VIRTUES VIRTUES
•EUDAIMONIA
•HAPPINESS
• the supreme good of flourishing
External Conditions
• State does not only exist for the people to live but allowing them to
LIVE WELL.
• Aims of legislators: make use of laws to improve the character of
an individual.
Getting and Keeping Moral Virtues
Possessing the virtues is a matter of degree, and few if any possess them all or equally.
Since a virtue is a multi-track disposition to do what is right—a disposition that “goes all the way down”—
we only find it hard to do what is right when our disposition does not go all the way down.
If we do what is right due to a disposition established by practice and habit, Aristotle
calls our condition virtuous.
If we do what is right despite contrary inclination, Aristotle calls our condition
continent, something inferior to virtuous.
If we try but fail to do what we know we should, we are called incontinent.
If we have no interest even in trying to do what we know we should, we are called
vicious.
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Spectrum of Character
• VICIOUS: derives pleasure by acting badly
• INCONTINENT: inclined to act badly and does it to satisfy desire.
(dissatisfied with self)
• CONTINENT: inclined to act badly but do what is right
(dissatisfied because of unsatisfied desire/inclination)
• VIRTUOUS: derives pleasure in doing what is right and does it.
Satisfied desires. Thus, results to good behavior.
Function of a well ordered State
• Make the progression form worst to better through
• HABITUATION (correct action)
• Legislators should possess the intellectual virtue of PHRONESIS
• To direct people from being Vicious to Virtuous
Virtue or Continence is Best?
We ordinarily praise folks for overcoming their desires or temptations in order to do what is right. Don’t
continent people deserve praise then, perhaps even more than the virtuous?
Perhaps, according to Hursthouse, depending on what makes doing what is right hard:
Giving back a lost wallet full of money is easy for a virtuous person
If it is hard because you are in dire need of money, then returning it is praiseworthy
But, if it is hard because you don’t care about other people, its return is less praiseworthy
Is this right?
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Back to Happiness…
If happiness is “an activity of the soul in conformity with
virtue,” what virtue is meant, intellectual virtue, or
moral virtue?
Aristotle’s answer is “both,” but in Book X he says
since happiness is virtuous activity, it’s only natural
that it be in conformity with the highest virtue
the highest virtue (theoretical wisdom) is intellectual,
and so
1. happiness is primarily intellectual activity
2. secondarily moral activity
Notice, the title of chapter 8, Book X: Moral Activity is
Secondary Happiness
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Human lives well What obligation do
we have to people
who are less fortunate
• If it possess both Intellectual Virtue and Moral Virtue to help them live as
well as possible?
• But not all have the capacity.
• This raise concerns about Social Justice.
Thank you for Listening.
References:
• Baron, P. (2015, October 15). Virtue ethics. Retrieved January 09, 2018, from
https://www.slideshare.net/PhilosophicalInvestigations/virtue-ethics-53981614
• Chris Suprenant, University of New Orleans. Video Presentation
• Crash Course Philosophy produced by PBS Digital Studios . Video Presentation
• Aristotle Ethics by www.public.iastate.edu
• Website: More Readings
• https://www.slideshare.net/PhilosophicalInvestigations/virtue-ethics-53981614
• http://www.constitution.org/ari/ethic_03.htmhttp://www.thebookoflife.org/the-great-philosophers-
aristotle/?utm_source=You%20Tube&utm_medium=You%20Tube%20-%20Philosophy%20Aristotle
%20-%20video%20description%20-%20TBOL%20Article&utm_campaign=You%20Tube%20-
%20Philosophy%20Aristotle%20-%20video%20description%20-%20TBOL%20Article
