CCEA Religion - Virtue Ethics

Virtue Ethics definition

‘interested in defining good people and the qualities that make them good’ - Bowie

What’s Aristotle’s purpose of life?

‘supreme good’ or eudaimonia

Thompson quote on VE

‘developing the virtues is a necessary feature of living alongside others’

What did St Ambrose add to VE?

faith, hope, love and charity

Cardinal Virtues quote

‘the true hinges on which morality depends’

What are the cardinal values?

Prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice

Anscombe quote (female perspective!)

‘good persons do good deeds, but good deeds do not necessarily make good persons’

Foot quote

‘the moral virtues need to be nurtured and developed through constant habit’

MacIntyre quote

‘moral vaccum’

MacIntyres ideas of typical characters

There are three types of typical characters in society now; the bureaucratic manager, the rich aesthete, the generalist

Hauerwas quote

‘Character is more fundamental than acts, rules or principles’

Rosalind Hasthose

‘Evem when the decision to have an abortion is the right decision…a human life has been cut short, some evil has probably been brought about’

Martha Nassbaum quote

‘Does FGM contribute to…a good life?’

Louden quote

‘structurally unable to do anything’

V and G quote

“we must try to ensure that we… hit the mean or midway

3 egs of vice of excess, virtue and deficiency

rashness, courage, cowardice / buffoonery, wittiness and boorishness / shyness, modesty, shamelessness

5 criticisms of VE

irrelevant to modern audience, doesn’t provide clear moral guidelines, capacity for human error, golden mean = difficult to apply, dependent on social and family values ( we receive virtues through instructions from others)

three pros of VE

primary focus on people and QOL / universal: fits christian ethics and beyond / emphasise imp of community, habit and self denial