Virtue ethics

normative ethical theory focused on the virtues or character

some virtues

  • civility

  • cooperativeness

  • courage

  • honesty

  • fairness

  • friendliness

How am I to achieve eudaimonia?

What is eudaimonia?

  • chief/highest good for human beings

  • translated as happiness, flourishing, well-being

To live happily/well, is to live in accordance with virtue

What is a virtue?

a character trait, well-entrenched disposition

Virtue involves reason

a virtuous person does what is right

  1. intentionally

  2. for a reason

  3. the reason must be in some sense that the action is worth doing for its own sake

7 ways to fall short of virtue

example: honesty

  1. Do what you know to be dishonest

  2. Do what is honest, but not for the right reasons

  3. Do what is honest with the wrong emotions

  4. Do what is dishonest, not believing, or realizing or “seeing” that it is

  5. Fail to do what is honest on an occasion that called for a particular honest action because of failure to see such an action was called for

  6. do what is honest when you should not have

  7. do what is honest, but botch manner of doing it

Doctrines of the mean

  1. to each virtue there corresponds two opposing vices, with virtue lying in between them

  2. to be virtuous requires hitting upon the mean in actions and feelings, which involves

    1. having the appropriate feelings on

      1. the right occasions

      2. about the right things

      3. towards the right people

      4. for the right end

      5. in the right way

Phronesis

to be a virtuous person, to be in possession of the virtues fully, one needs phronesis

what is phronesis?

enables virtuous person to “hit upon the mean” in actions

  • form of practical knowledge

  • allows you to make sound choices/good decisions in/about your life

cannot have full virtue of character without phronesis

without virtue of character you cannot have phronesis either

person with phronesis has true grasp of eudaimonia

challenges to virtue ethics

  1. normative theory should offer prescriptions for solving moral dilemmas, virtue ethics is not useful in this regard

  2. how do we know what the virtues are? we can’t know the virtues without knowing the virtuous person, and we can’t recognize the virtuous person without knowing the virtues

reply to challenges

  1. each virtue generates a prescription: do what is courageous, jsut, etc

  2. we have to start somewhere