Aristotelian ethics

• Eudaimonia


  The good life for human beings, according to Aristotle
• Reason


  The unique characteristic activity (ergon) of human beings, according to Aristotle
• Virtues


  Character traits that enable us to act according to reason, according to Aristotle
• Middle point


  The virtue is the middle point between a vice of deficiency and a vice of excess, according to Aristotle
• Habit and training


  How virtues are developed, according to Aristotle
• Good person


  Someone who does good actions
• Good actions


  Actions done by good people (according to Aristotle)
• Eudaimonia


  The good life for human beings
• Eudaimonia


  • It must consist of something unique to human beings
  • It is the good life for a human being in a broad sense, not just about following moral laws, being happy, or being successful
• Ergon


  Function/characteristic activity of a thing
• Arête


  Property/virtue that enables a thing to achieve its ergon
• The ergon of humans is to use reason
• Virtues


  Character traits that enable us to choose our actions according to good reason
• Virtues


  • They are character traits, not something you have one day but not the next
  • They are the intermediate or average (the mean) between two extremes (vices)
• Acquiring virtues is analogous to acquiring skills like playing the piano
• Phronesis


  Practical wisdom - the ability to apply the general understanding of what is good for human beings (eudaimonia) to the specific details of a situation
• Voluntary actions


  Actions done with full knowledge and intention
• Involuntary/non-voluntary actions


  Actions done under compulsion or out of ignorance
• Aristotle says we should only praise or condemn voluntary actions
• Virtue ethics does not provide clear guidance on what the correct course of action is in a given situation
• Virtue ethics can be interpreted as defining virtuous acts and virtuous people in terms of each other, which is circular
• There can be conflicts between different virtues, e.g. justice and mercy
• There is a difference between what is morally good and eudaimonia (the good life for a human being)