Bioethics_Aristotle // Virtue Ethics

Actions producing moral virtue differ from those stemming from it; the latter require specific conditions.
Just and temperate acts indicate a person's moral character, similar to how grammatical acts indicate a grammarian.
Unlike arts, where the goodness of products is inherent, virtuous acts require the agent to possess certain conditions.
Essential conditions for virtuous actions include:
- Knowledge of the virtue.
- A conscious choice of the act for its own sake.
- Actions must arise from a stable and consistent character.
- Knowledge alone is insufficient for virtue; the other conditions are crucial for moral character development.
- Just and temperate actions are defined by the characteristics of the just or temperate individual, not merely by the actions themselves.

Aristotle → Virtue Ethics
No strict focus on singular intentions/actions
- Can’t do a good thing just once
- Habit is essential
Asks one to consider the knowledge + will of the moral agent (person) involved in acting
Telos — “End” & “paradise”
- Teleology — Considers the amount of good in the world
No moral playbook → Learn by doing rather than just learning
- Follow the example of someone else who’s good
- If you keep doing the good, you’ll start enjoying it
- This common sense is more practical wisdom
Arete — Excellence or perfection of a thing
Eudaimonia — “Human flourishing”
“Doctrine of the Mean”
- Vice (excess) ↑
- Virtue (Golden Mean) =
- Vice (deficiency) ↓
Types of moral character:
- Virtuous/God-like — Rare; know, do, and delight in good
  - The right thing, at the right time, in the right manner
- Continent/Enduring and/or Incontinent/Soft — Common; know, does, but grudgingly and/or know, don’t do, and guilty
  - Do the right thing but with regret/complaint/difficulty
- Brutish/Vicious — Rare; don’t know, do wrong, delight in wrong and/or do know, do wrong, delight in wrong
- Goodness is a firm habit rooted in the virtue and character of the moral agent