Being an Excellent Person - Virtue Ethics

Overview

The most important thing is to becoming a good and virtuous person. It focuses on character.

Virtues are habits that direct someone to being good

The importance of character

Discovering why character matters

Connecting chracter with action

Seeing character as a way of life

Understasnding what virtues are

Virtues are habits toward goodness

Breaking down virtues

Focusing on the good

Grasping the nature of the good

Virtuous living leads to human flourishing

Overview Pat II

Aristotle and confucious

Aristotle view

Confucious view

Virtue: The middle path between extremes

Can virtues really be taught

Confucious: Virtue starts at home

Mirroring virtuous people

Practice, practice, and more practice

Assessing critcisms of virtue ethics

It’s difficult to know which virutes are right

Virtues can’t give exact guidance

Virtue ethics is really self-centered

Being virtuous is a lucky crapshoot

The Lowdown on Virtue ethics; The importance of Character

Virtue ethics focuses on having a good character. You should be a good person at all times, not just in specific situations

Discovering why character matters

Character is what a person is versus what rules they follow.

When someone has good character, it can make it hard or impossible for someone to do bad acts

Virtues give someone a character that tends to do good things.

Vices are things that give someone a character that tends to do bad things.

Connecting Character for Action

Both action and character are connected in virtue ethics.

If someone has a character trait, they can be counted to do that traitS

Seeing character as a way of life

Character is something that acts at all times. There are not contradictions or compartmentalizations

Understanding what virtues are

In order to develop your character you need to get virtuous character traits. There are ways to get some good ones

Virtues are habits towards goodness

Virtues are a type of habit. Not all stable habits are virtues.

Virtues are stable habits that leads to goodness.

Vice

A person who thinkgs and feels the wrong way.

Incontinent

Someone who thinks in a way that aligns with virtue but feels and desires in the wrong way. These people ultimatedly due viceful things

Continent

Someone who thinks in a viceful way but desires and feels virtuously. They ultimately do the good thing

Virtuous

Someone who thinksf eels and desires the right thing. SOmeone who is contientn is not virutous because to be virtuous your being has to be good.

Breaking down virtues

Virtues have four aspects

Thinking

Feeling

Seeing - how you percieve others and situations

Actubg

Phronesis

Phronesis is able to see what to do ethically in a situation. it’s creative wisdom towards virtuous things

Cleverness is not phronesis because it is not the ability to figure out what to do to achieve a goal

Focusing on the good

Virtue ethics states that people should focus on doing thigns tobe a complete and human being by doing good things to the point where it becomes habitual

Grasping the nature of “the good”

The ultimate good is something that can be wanted for its own sake.

This was called Eudaimonia

A completion of life by making it whole

Eudaimonia

Well-being. The completion by achieving a great good that is wanted for its own sake

Virtuous living leads to human flourishing

Virtuos living makes people more capable of success. In a society, if everyone is virutous it leads to more harmony

Virtous living also leads to the maturation of human nature- this is a bit controvesial as it assumes human nature exists but it is saying that when someone lives up to their full purpose

Unlike animals or plants, humans can choose either to thrive or not

Telos

Somethings specific ends and purpose

Relative virtue and happiness

There is a debate on whether or not virtue is a necessary or a sufficient contition for happiness

Aristotle and Confucius: Two notions of the good life

There are two mature virtue theorists but they might differ on what an excellent life looks like

Aristotle’s view of the human good

Aristotle viewed that the highest good is for humans to live within reason

Soul in the greek sense was just the part that makes something move. Plants and rocks do not have souls because they do not move

Soul parts

Aristotle Soul Parts

Vegitative: Plants have this, move towards growing

Appitive: Aniamls have this, move towards wants

Rational part: Can guide parts of the soul. No other creature but humans have this ability

Reason can overcome other parts form imbalance. Virtue also helps society. Intellectual virtues are important but moral virtues help foster a society where intellectual virtues are grown.

Confucious

He lived in 551-471 BCE believed that relationships are the more important aspects of humans.

People should not act alone. They should act in accordance to their role.

They should not just only act but be that role. living and breathing it.

This leads to harmony

Ren

Confucian term for humanity. People connected

Xaioren

People who act petty or diminished.

Virtue: The middle path between extremes

The virtuous choice for most things are in the middle.

Cowardice, Rashness and Bravery. Bravery is the mean.

Virtue ethicists also believe that somethings such as adultery or serial killing do not have a middle

Figuring out how to acquire virtues

How is virtue acquired?

Can virtues really be taught?

Although lectures can be given, only someone who is personally committed to embodying virtues can attain them.

Aristotle released lectures but did not believe that someone without commitment could become more virtuous through reading the lecture

Confucius refused to accept students who did not put the effort in to learn

Xiao

Filial piety. Love and respect your familiy and siblings

Confucious: Virtue starts at home

Confucious stated the virtue is first nurtured within the family. They are the first connection. Parents should be respected first. Then people around is society is respected.

Eventually everyone is treated as part of one big family

Mirroring Virutous People

In order to learn virtue. You shoudl find exemplars

1. Have a desire to become virtuous

2. Find people who can give inspiriation and guide: Jesus, Buddha, MLK

3. Copy the exemplar’s behavior

The desire for excellence pulls someone to become like these exemplars

Exemplar

A virtuous person to be drawn from in example

Polestar

Confucian term for exemplar

Phronimos

People who have practical wisdom (Aristotle term)

Junzi

Confucian term for exemplary persons

Practice, Practice, Practice

Being virtuous is not a quick thing. A virtuous act needs a virutous person. Although it seems paradoxcal. Someone who does more virtuous things over time transforms into a virtuous person

Assessing Criticisms of Virtue Ethics

There are problems with virtue ethics that have been raised

it’s difficult to know which virtues are right

Virtue ethics requires virtues. Different tradition can give different or even conflicting virtues to live by.

Analysis of which virtue is right is often influenced by culture and background.

It draws the question on whether or not virtue ethics is relativistic

Virtues can’t give exact guidance

Virtues only give general directions. It means that they are too vague to provide a complete picture on ethics.

Virtue ethicists argue that each situation is specific and that the guidance is enough for a virtuous person to figure out what the right thing to do is

Phronesis

Virtue ethics is really self-centered

Virtue ethics can be portrayed as something where people are obseessed with improving their own character.

The virtuist response to this is that someone who is doing something for the sake of character is not fostering that character.

Someone who is corageous is not ocncerned whether or not an action os courageous; they are only concerned with doing the coureageous thing

Being virtuous is a lucky crapshoot

Virtues require a good environment. A good environment is not guaranteed. This can be seen as a sufficient refutation of virtue ethics.

Virtuists believe that awareness of the role of the environment means that someone trying to beocme a lot more virtuous can attempt to optimize the environment they are in and that it doesn’t refute virtue ethics

Studying the relationship between virtue and the good

There are disagreements on the specifics of virtue theory such as its relationship towards the good. There are three views

Virtue Consequentialism: virtues are a means of obtaining good consequences

Eudaimonic virtue theory: Virtue isn’t a tool, it is an essential part of what good is. Virtue and human good are parts of each other

Virtue intuitionism: Virtues are not part of any good. The virtrues are nationally embraced as admirable by people. In some formulations, something is good only if virtues prefer it