Critical Thinking, Virtue Ethics, and Human Flourishing in Philosophy

What is the default position?

The automatic, unconscious way we experience life as if we are the center of the universe.

How does Wallace describe the default position?

Everything we see and feel comes through our own heads, making our needs, annoyances, and desires feel more real and urgent than anyone else's.

What examples does Wallace use to illustrate the default position?

The slow checkout line and traffic.

What is the value of a liberal arts education?

It teaches you how to think, meaning how to choose what you pay attention to and what meaning you make from experience.

What happens when we are not aware of the default position?

It runs unconsciously, and learning to think gives us awareness to notice and sometimes override it.

What has happened to institutions like universities and media?

They have become worse at seeking truth, solving problems, and making collective decisions.

What factors contribute to the decline of institutions?

Breakdown of shared trust and stories, self-censorship out of fear, and reward for outrage over careful thought.

What features were added to social media between 2009 and 2012?

Features that measured and amplified engagement, such as the Like button, Retweet and Share buttons, and algorithmic feeds.

What is confirmation bias?

The tendency to favor evidence that supports what we already believe.

What is the best antidote to confirmation bias?

Structured disconfirmation, meaning people and institutions that challenge you.

What is eudaimonia?

The final end of human desire, desired for its own sake and never for the sake of anything else.

How is eudaimonia different from happiness?

Eudaimonia is an objective condition of how a whole life is going, while happiness suggests a subjective feeling or mood.

What is the definition of eudaimonia?

Human flourishing, or living well and doing well.

What is the central part of eudaimonia?

Virtue, which is excellent rational activity.

What are the supporting goods of eudaimonia?

Friendship, pleasure accompanying virtuous activity, and external goods like health and wealth.

What is ethical virtue?

A stable character trait that involves a settled disposition to feel and act in the right way.

What are the four main features of ethical virtue?

Acquired through habit, stable disposition, concerns feelings and actions, and is a mean between two extremes.

What does the mean of excellence refer to?

Every virtue sits between a deficiency and an excess, determined by reason.

How does virtue relate to eudaimonia?

Virtue is the core of eudaimonia; flourishing is rational activity expressing excellence.

What defines a virtuous person?

A person whose reason and desire are in harmony, taking pleasure in the right things.

What is the definition of humans?

Rational, social animals.

What is the human function?

Rational activity of the soul, in accordance with virtue.

What is necessary for organizing social life?

Shared deliberation, fair laws, and cooperation for the common good.

What are the four types of character?

Vicious, incontinent, continent, and virtuous.

What characterizes a vicious person?

Bad values, bad desires, and bad actions.

What characterizes a continent person?

Knows what's right, wants the wrong thing, and does the right thing through self-control.

What characterizes a virtuous person?

Knows what's right, wants to do it, and does it with no inner conflict.

What defines humans?

Rational, social animals.

How do humans organize social life?

Through shared deliberation, fair laws, and cooperation for the common good.

What is the three-word definition of humans?

Rational social animals.

What governs social interactions according to virtue?

Virtues like justice, generosity, friendliness, truthfulness, and good temper.

How is a virtuous person different from a continent person?

A virtuous person has desires shaped by reason, while a continent person struggles with conflicting desires.

What is the role of emotions in ethics?

Ethics involves having the right feelings in the right way.

How is virtue developed?

Through habituation by repeatedly doing virtuous acts.

What is the deficiency and excess pattern for courage?

Cowardice is the deficiency, courage is the virtue, and recklessness is the excess.

What is the deficiency and excess pattern for temperance?

Insensibility is the deficiency, temperance is the virtue, and self-indulgence is the excess.

What is the deficiency and excess pattern for generosity?

Stinginess is the deficiency, generosity is the virtue, and wastefulness is the excess.

What is the action guidance problem in virtue ethics?

It lacks specific instructions on what to do in moral situations.

How can we address the action guidance objection in virtue ethics?

By using exemplars, virtue rules, and moral education.

What are the three types of friendship?

Utility, pleasure, and character (virtue).

Why is character friendship considered the best?

It is lasting, loves the person for who they are, and helps each other grow in virtue.

What does a good person love about themselves?

Their reason and virtue.

How does friendship relate to self-love?

A good friend wishes you good for your own sake, similar to how you relate to yourself.

What is enmeshment in friendship?

Your flourishing and your friend's become intertwined; their good is part of your own.

What diagram represents enmeshment?

Two overlapping circles labeled 'my flourishing' and 'friend's flourishing' with 'shared good' in the overlap.

What is a real-world example of enmeshment?

A parent whose well-being is tied to their child's.

What does Hurka argue about Aristotelian ethics?

It assumes that your good and others' goods are sharply separate.

How does enmeshment counter the egoism objection in virtue ethics?

A friend's flourishing is part of your own, so caring for them isn't a trade-off against your good.

What is the capability approach?

A way of thinking about well-being that focuses on what each person can actually do and be.

What is an internal capability?

A developed ability within a person, such as skills or health.

What is a combined capability?

Internal capability plus the social, political, and economic conditions that allow its exercise.

What is the central question of the capability approach?

What is each person actually able to do and to be?

What are the four key features of the capability approach?

1. Takes each person as an end. 2. Focuses on choice/freedom. 3. Is pluralist about value. 4. Concerned with social injustice.

What is liberalism?

A political philosophy prioritizing individual freedom and equal rights.

How does liberalism differ from ancient views?

Ancient thinkers assumed the state should cultivate a particular conception of virtue, while liberalism starts from equal worth.

What are Nussbaum's central capabilities?

1. Life. 2. Bodily health. 3. Bodily integrity. 4. Senses, imagination, and thought. 5. Emotions.

What is Kantian dignity?

Every person has inherent, unconditional worth beyond price.

What does autonomy mean in Kantian terms?

Acting on principles you've reasoned out yourself, rather than obeying others.

What is pluralism about the good?

There are several distinct valuable things that cannot be reduced to one master value.

What is the difference between common good and aggregate approaches?

Common good focuses on individual thresholds for capabilities, while aggregate approaches average welfare.

What is the main idea of Nussbaum's approach?

Focus on capabilities, freedom, dignity, individual people, and social justice.

How does Nussbaum connect back to Aristotle?

Both ask what a good human life requires and emphasize social aspects.

What does the capability approach emphasize regarding social justice?

It pays special attention to people disadvantaged by discrimination, poverty, or tradition.

What is the significance of practical reason in Nussbaum's approach?

It is central to forming a conception of the good and planning one's life.

How does the capability approach view individual welfare?

It assesses whether every individual reaches a threshold on each central capability.

What is the relationship between enmeshment and friendship?

Enmeshment illustrates how friends' successes and sufferings are interconnected.

What does Nussbaum's approach say about entrenched social injustice?

It highlights the need to address inequalities faced by disadvantaged individuals.

What is the role of emotions in Nussbaum's central capabilities?

Having attachments to people and things, loving and grieving without being blighted by fear.

What does the capability approach aim to achieve?

Real opportunities for individuals to flourish in various aspects of life.