Ethics - Virtue Ethics

Who is the main philosopher associated with Virtue Ethics?

- Aristotle - student of Plato, but rejected Plato's teachings

What is Plato's contribution to Ethics?

- Metaphysical account of goodness

- Realist - good is real, the ultimate reality + the source of our being

- Teleologist - Our purpose is to contemplate good

What is Aristotle's contribution to Virtue Ethics?

- Criticised what Plato said

- Naturalist - Good is part of our natural dispositions as human beings, which is observable

- Teleologist - To be moral means to fulfil our natural purpose of rational and virtuous behaviour

- Aretaic - focused on the desire to be a person of a certain quality/character

- If we become good people, we would automatically do good things

- Our telos (ultimate aim) is eudaimonia, loosely translated as flourishing, practising virtue (similar to self-actualisation + Maslow's hierarchy of needs)

According to Aristotle, what does being virtuous mean?

- Following the middle path between extremes (vices) of deficiency and excess

- Virtue is a skill, we learn to pick up the right balance of behaviour through practice and habit

- Using people as role models to emulate

What are Aristotle's 12 key moral virtues?

- Courage, Temperance, Patience, Truthfulness, Wittiness, Friendliness/Helpfulness. Modesty, Righteous Indignation (Aversion to Wrong), Liberality/Generosity, Magnificence, Ambition, Magnanimity (Being forgiving)

What are Aristotle's Cardinal Virtues?

- More important than the others

- Courage

- Temperance

- Wisdom

- Justice - awareness of what is right and good, specifically about the treatment of others

- Similar to Plato

How can we link Aristotle's Virtue Ethics to Aquinas' Natural Moral Law?

- NML is an underlying theme

- 'Natural' Justice is not the same as legal justice

- Natural justice is independent and applies universally, and applies universally

- We have an ultimate purpose: Eudaimonia in VE, God in NML

What is Natural Moral Law?

- Has religious underpinnings

- Absolutist - A moral code exists within the purpose of nature (as directed by God)

- Deontologist - Focused on the intrinsic ethicality of actions (not consequences), motivation and the action itself

- Exists to assist humans in directing their actions in order to reach Heaven

- Basic law - good should be pursued, bad should be avoided

- All actions must lead to God (ultimate purpose of human existence)

which philosopher is associated with Natural Moral Law?

- Thomas Aquinas

According to Aquinas, what are primary precepts?

- The purpose of humans

- Self-preservation

- Continuation of the species

- Educate Children

- Live in ordered society

- Worship God

According to Aquinas, what are secondary precepts?

- Rulings based upon the human purpose as outlines by primary precepts - rules that should be applied in day to day

- Do not murder

- Do not abort

- Defend defenceless

- Do not commit suicide

What is the main criticism of NML?

- Grounded in religion

- Dostoyevsky - "without God, anything is permitted"

- Euthyphro Dilemma - Is something good by God's command, or does God command it because it is good?

What is Elizabeth Anscombe's contribution to Virtue Ethics?

- Supportive of it

- Criticises modern conceptions of morality

- Says that it is misguided to think of individual actions as good or bad, we should think of people as good or bad.

- Modern life is "rubbish" - some might say there is a lot of egoism in modern morality, thinking about how your actions make you look, instead of the Aristotelian notion of virtue

What is Alasdair MacIntyre's contribution to Virtue Ethics?

- After Virtue - wrote a book attempting to produce a version of VE that can work in the modern age

- High point of virtue was the Athenian Virtues of Aristotle

- Since the Enlightenment, rational philosophers try to find a cause of ethics, when we should be looking at the individual practice of ethics

- Advocated for an agreed set of virtues - courage, justice, temperance, wisdom, industriousness, hope, patience - to give life purpose and meaning

- If we put such virtues into practice, morality gets a fresh start

What are the overall strengths of virtue ethics?

- Allows that we learn to be moral over time - realistic

- Flexible, does not prescribe absolute duties

- Allows for differing conceptions of virtue among cultures

- Martha Nussbaum says it is compassionate and caring - takes into account the whole person, their wellbeing and their fulfilment

- Implies no need for moral rules/guidance - if you were virtuous, you would know how to act morally

What are the overall weaknesses of virtue ethics?

- Robert Loudan - no clear moral rules, no way to resolve moral dilemmas

- Hugo Grotius - truth and justice are ethical absolutes, not middle ways

- Does not deal with those who do wrong, believing they are acting virtuously

- Some things are always wrong, but virtue ethics is not a moral system that forbid these things, such as rape, torturing the innocent#