plato + aristotle

plato’s 3 parts

• Reason -> makes sound judgements 

• Will/ motivation -> supports reason and makes sure our appetites don’t get out of control 

• Appetite/ desire 

plato’s 4 cardinal virtues

• we have wisdom when our reason is informed by a sound general knowledge 

• we have courage when our will obeys our reason despite appetite 

• we have temperance when our reason governs our appetites 

• we have justice when each part of our psyche does its job properly with reason in control 

• As these virtues are all closely related to the operations of the psyche, Plato was of the view that you could not have one w/out the other three. 

Plato’s metaphysical account of goodness

• Regarded the good as something real- the ultimate reality which is the source of our being 

• Our job is to contemplate the good-> this is the ultimate aim of philosophy 

Aristotle’s rejection of plato’s teachings

• Aristotle gave a naturalistic and psychological account of good 

• He argued that it is a part of our natural disposition as human beings 

• This disagreement gave rise to a fundamental dispute in moral philosophy: what is good? 

Aristotle + telos

•  Virtue ethics is teleological because it argues that we should practice being good, or virtuous over time. Therefore, it is not deontological. 

• HOWEVER, it is not concerned exclusively w the consequences of our actions (like utilitarianism/ sitch ethics), so its agent centred rather than act centred 

• Ethical life means living in tune with our natural purpose of rational and virtuous behaviour.  

• A complete explanation of anything would include its final cause or purpose, which is, ultimately, to realise its potential and fulfil its goal.  

• For human beings, the ultimate goal is human flourishing and developing those characteristics best suited to the realisation of a virtuous human being. 

• His emphasis was not on what people do but what kind of person they are – although being a kind person, for example, is essentially accomplished by practising acts of kindness until the habit of being kind is firmly established in a person’s character. 

eudaimonia

• This ultimate aim (telos – Greek) is called Eudaimonia (‘well-spirited’ – so roughly, ‘flourishing’), referring to the idea that the person practising virtue feels fulfilled and content. 

• Eudaimonia – being happy and living well 

• It is an intrinsic value, not a means to an ends 

• It should be desired for its own sake, not only for an individual but for all of society 

• A person who has developed the virtues will be able to act in an integrated way, getting satisfaction from doing the right thing because it is the right thing, and not for any external reasons or goals 

• They will not act in a particular way because they ought to or because they want to do so, but because they have identified the right way to act 

• Eudaimon is an objectively desirable state and means living well 

• Achieved when we become virtuous 

intellectual virtues

• The end or purpose of man is rational thought and his highest good is to be found in intellectual virtue 

• Nous (intelligence), which apprehends fundamental truths (such as definitions, self-evident principles) 

• Episteme (science), which is skill with inferential reasoning (such as proofs, syllogisms, demonstrations) 

• Sophia (theoretical wisdom), which combines fundamental truths with valid, necessary inferences to reason well about unchanging truths. 

moral virtues

• despite man’s intellectual pursuit, he does still have to live practically in the world, and therefore he must also pursue moral virtues 

• Amongst these, Aristotle included courage, temperance, liberality (the quality of giving or spending freely) and magnificence (one’s attitude towards one’s wealth), good temper, being agreeable in company, wittiness and modesty 

• These are practical virtues, set still under the control of the intellect, but are developed through habit. 

qualities of happiness

• Aristotle distinguished between three types of happy people: 

• Pleasure seekers are driven by basic desires (food, sex) 

• Honour seekers are driven by their reputations (politicians) 

• Lovers of contemplation are philosophers and thinkers 

• Pleasure seekers follow the lowest form whilst contemplation lovers achieve what is best 

• The human soul itself is divided into the rational and irrational parts. The key aspect of the rational human soul is its division into the scientific and calculative, which holds a priori knowledge and makes decisions. 

• Virtue Ethics involves a person making full and harmonious use of the soul. 

the golden mean

• Aristotle realised that human behaviour is made up of extremes which he called vices of excess and vices of deficiency.  

• Aristotle argued that the best course of action falls between the two and that this is the virtue. 

• For example, if courage is the virtue, then cowardice is the vice of deficiency and foolhardiness or rashness is the vice of excess.  

• So the virtue of courage lies at the mean or middle between these vices. In this way, we can see that virtues are desire-regulating character traits that fall at some mid-point between extremes. 

virtuous role models

• Aristotle said that the good person should learn from virtuous role models 

• We should train and exercise our virtues until they become automatic ways of living and behaving and part of our character which we can exercise without conscious effort or will 

• Aristotle believed that it was the moral duty of every citizen to act as a good role model. This was especially true for people who were most likely to be in the public eye, since these people had so many eyes on them. 

phronesis/ prudence/ practical wisdom

• Prudence is the ability to govern and discipline oneself through the use of reason 

• There are two aspects to phronesis.  

• First of all, it entails keeping in mind our ultimate goal, to achieve eudaimonia.  

• Secondly, it involves thinking carefully about the best way to attain this purpose. 

• There must be a continuous attempt on the part of a person to practise virtue and this involves an awareness of the circumstances in which he acts 

• Aristotle calls this “prudence” – a person must not only desire to do good, they must know when and how to do it 

habituation

• Phronesis requires constant practice 

• This process is called habituation 

• For Aristotle, a genuine virtuous person is virtuous all the time, even when asleep, because he has cultivated the habit of virtue 

• These habits enable us to say a person is good and to anticipate what they will do to display the goodness, even if they are not currently engaged in it 

importance of phronesis

• Without phronesis, it would be impossible to practice the moral virtues properly. A person who has all the right moral virtues knows what ends to pursue, but without phronesis, that person will not know how to set about pursuing the right ends. Contrary to modern assumptions, Aristotle is telling us that having one’s heart in the right place is not good enough: being a good person requires a kind of practical intelligence as well as a good disposition. 

• On the other hand, a person who has phronesis but does not have the right moral virtues will be very effective in devising means to personal ends, but those ends might not be noble. The villain in a James Bond film might be seen as a portrait of a person with phronesis but no moral virtue.