Virtues

• The kind of courage Aristotle spoke about was to do with the threat of death when going into battle because Greece was constantly at war
• Courage does not have a mean, extreme courage is appropriate
• Aristotle believed that all virtues are means between two extremes (vices)
• Courage is not:

  • facing danger for fear of punishment or shame
  • Acted out of ignorance
  • driven by violent passions, such as anger or lust
• Temperance exists only in the field of pleasure and pain
• The deficiency of temperance is insensibility
• The excess of deficiency is licentiousness or self-indulgence
• Temperance for Aristotle is eating, drinking and the pleasures of the flesh
• The temperate person enjoys things in moderation and is disgusted by excess
• Justice is an altruistic virtue as it considers the good of others an end in itself
• Justice is not just a legality, but the whole system of law
• Justice has no mean as it is a simple extreme
• Justice means restoring what is lost to someone
• Justice requires bravery, courage and temperance for the good of the community
• The moral agent is not responsible for acts of injustice done through ignorance- unless the ignorance is willful
• Friendship is an altruistic virtue as it considers the good of others as an end in itself
• Aristotle believed friendship was just as important as justice
• The usefulness of a friendship comes from the affection people have for each other and the good that comes from that
• The pleasure of a friendship comes from wit and humour people may share
• Goodness in a friendship refers to how alike people are in terms of their virtues
• there are nine intellectual virtues
• Primary intellectual virtues:

  • technical skill
  • scientific knowledge
  • practical wisdom
  • intelligence
  • theoretical wisdom
• The intellectual virtues can be taught and are controlled by reason