Aristotle's Virtue Ethics

Virtue defintion

A dispostion- a character trait- which is to be valued, for example courage, truthfullness, self-control and generosity

How do Virtue Ethics differ from NML and Situational Ethics

both NML and Situational ethics ask the question ‘what should i do‘ whenever in a situation while Virtue Ethics asks ‘what type of person should i be‘. Virtue ethics equipped us with moral knowleged to make a descion instead of telling us what to do (autonomy).

Arete

Excellence or virtue; the fulfilment and realisation of potential/ function

Vices

Opposite of virtues; the deficiencies and excess between which virtues lie.

Soul

For Aristotle, the soul is the form or blueprint of the body, attributed to plants, animals, and humans, forming a hierarchy: vegetative, sensitive, and rational.

Golden Mean

Virtues lie between two extremes- the excess and deficiency. For example, courage lies in the ‘golden mean‘ (the midpoint) between cowardice (deficiency) and recklessness (excess)

Dispositions

Character traits or tendencies influence a person's behavior. In virtue ethics, virtue is seen as a disposition that enables an individual to act rationally and attain a balanced mean between extremes of excess and deficiency, reflecting an ideal moral character.

Phronesis

Wisdom/intelligence related to practical action

Phronimos

The man of practical wisdom who is best qualified to define virtuous behaviour in any situation

Theoria

The intellectual virtue of contemplation, which Aristotle says is the good life for human beings.

• He believes that happiness is an activity that conforms to the highest virtue, which must be the best thing in us.

• The highest thing in us is our intelligence. we use this in science for an example.

• scientific discoveries are the highest objects of knowledge, contemplation of them gives us our greatest happiness

• contemplation is contemplation of the divine- reasoning is the greatest thing we can do (takes us higher than what our bodies can do).

Temperance

The virtue of self control

Voluntary action

Action brought about by the will

Holistic

Concerned with the whole e.g the whole person

Aristotle Quote

“Moral virtue is a mean.. between two vices.. it aims at hitting the middle point in feelings and actions.“

• he is saying that we need balance and achieve the mean

Telos

Aristotle believed in that everything has a end goal to fulfil. This is the Final Cause. For humans our telos is to achieve eudaimonia.

Four Causes

Aristotle said that everything in existence has 4 different cause

• Material Cause- what something is made of, e.g plastic

• Formal Cause- the form of it, its shape

• Efficient Cause- the cause of it, what brought it into existence

• Final Cause- The purpose it has, what is the reason it exists?

Eudaimonia

• His starting point is the teleological claim that every action is aimed at attaining some good

• The final and ultimate end to which human action is geared is eudaimonia

• Eudaimonia is not attained through pleasure or wealth

• Aristotle believed that our human ability to reason plays an important role in achieving eudamonia; this involves cultivating and exercising virtue for their entire lives

Hierarchy of souls

Plants have a vegative soul

• Plants can’t think for themselves, they grow and reproduce

  Animals have sensitive souls

• Animals have senses and emotions, but they don’t think for themselves

  Humans have a rational soul

• Humans think and reflect for themselves.

  function depends on the nature of the would, for humans it is to exercise reason

2 parts of the soul

Rational soul- rational sould has intellectual virtues.

5 primary intellectual virtues

• Technical skills, Scientific knowledge, Practical wisdom (phronesis), Intelligence, Theoretical wisdom

4 secondary intellectual virtues

• Resourcefulness, Understanding, Judgement, Cleverness

Non-rational soul- non rational soul has moral virtues.

4 primary moral virtues

• Prudence (cautiouness), Justice (fairness), Temperance (self-restraint), Fortitude (courage)

How do we perform the virtues well?

• Virtue comes from rational choice – We can only be praised or blamed for voluntary actions, not accidents.

• The mean (moderation) is individual – It’s determined by a phronimos (a wise person), not a universal rule.

• Justice is an extreme, not a mean – It unites all virtues and requires courage, temperance, and wisdom for the good of all.

Stengths

It is valuable in the modern world as it doesn’t depend on the belief in God

• It takes back to an ethical apporch that came before religion

• gives moral guidence without the dependence of the belief in God

It is holistic and human-centred

• It considers the whole human person and empowers humans to think for themselves

• It values the strength of moral character above following rules

It helps people make moral decisions for themselves, greater autonomy

• remains relevant as it focuses on giving people the ability to make moral decisions

• It gives individual autonomy, rather than telling them what to do

• doesn’t try to guess the future but gives people the skills for their futures.

Weaknesses

lacks culture realtivism- assumes that the same virtues are valued in every society

• different societies have different virtues

• different centuries have had different virtues

Society needs rules and laws

• virtue ethics may be good for the indiviual but it can’t be applied to nations.

• virtue ethics dont provide a clear, concrete rules/ laes that a society needs

It is too anthropocentric- may lead to negative consequences for the enviroment and animals

• The system is focused on human good and hua flourishing

• it’s based on the idea humans have a unique ability to think rationally, whereas the aninals soul is restricted to basic sense preception.

• Suggest that human life is better than other species.