VIRTUE ETHICS

Virtue Ethics

• is a moral philosophy that emphasizes individuals character and personality traits instead of their actions.

• Does not deal with the rightness or wrongness of a specific action

True

Virtue ethics holds that an individual's ethical behavior should be measured by their trait-based characteristics such as honesty, courage, and wisdom, rather than by the consequences of their actions or the particular duties they are obliged to obey. This approach emphasizes cultivating good virtues.

Virtue (aretê)

Refers to genuine moral excellence of character.

Eudaimonia

humans should act in ways that seek purpose and meaning.

Practical Wisdom (phronêsis)

refers to the importance of rational decision-making based on empirical evidence.

Nichomachean Ethics

the first systematic study of ethics in western civilization

Telos

Greek term that means “end” (or purpose).

According to Aristotle

“every action and pursuit is thought to aim at some good...” (Stumpf, S.E., 2005).

Aristotelian ethics

practical wisdom central category that helps individuals become virtues

3 major forms of ethics

• Ethics of care

• Agent-based theories

• Eudaimonist virtue ethics

Ethics of care

• Care of kindness is considered the main virtue

• Care is the determinant of the moral worth of human action

Michael Slote said:

Caring is the primary virtue, and that a morality based on the motive of caring can offer a general account of right and. Focuses on moral development

Agent-based theory

an action is right if it expresses an virtue motive or at least does not exhibit a malicious intention from the agent

Eudaimonist virtue ethics

Greek word of eudaimonia, happiness, vide as final end

Aristotle virtue ethics

Would guide humans in attaining the good life

True

Aristotle rejected the way Plato view virtue ethics

True

“What people fundamentally desire is happiness or eudaimonia.”

Good habits

are the instrument of developing ethics

Eudaimonia

meaning “nun happiness”

what makes VIRTUE ETHICS distinct from:

DEONTOLOGY and CONSEQUENTIALISM

IT DOES NOT PROVIDE THE MORAL AGENT WITH SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES OR RULES TO GUIDE HER ACTIONS

Plato: The Three Souls

• Intellectual soul

• Will-soul

• Desire-soul

Intellectual soul

• whose virtue is wisdom, the most important virtue.

• Intellectual soul should rule over the other parts of the souls.

Will-soul

whose virtue is courage which is the second most important virtue.

Desire-soul

whose virtue is moderation which is the third most important virtue.

Plato's Ethics

is an application in practice of the principles which had been reached in the metaphysical field.

Plato

His moral theory was based on man achieving his highest good

Highest good

right cultivation of soul (inner well-being) + harmonious well-being of life (eudaimonia)

Temperance, Courage, Prudence,
Justice

Happiness is attained through the pursuit of this certain virtues:

THOMAS AQUINAS Ethics

• all human actions are governed by a general principle or precept that is foundational to and necessary for all practical reasoning: good is to be done and evil is to be avoided.

• This principle is not something we can ignore or defy.

Ethics of Plato

"The idea of the good is the highest knowledge."

True

According to Ethics of Plato, the most fruitful source of Plato's ethical theory is found in his REPUBLIC.

True

According to Ethics of Plato Ethical knowledge is even more austere than mathematics.

Natural Law Theory

• preservation of human life

• avoidance of harm

• reproduction and care of offspring

• the search for truth

• the nurturing of social ties