ETHICS MIDTERM

• Virtue Ethics


  A perspective in ethics that focuses on the character of individuals as the most significant element in making moral decisions
• Virtue Ethics


  • It emphasizes the role of character and virtue in moral philosophy rather than either doing one's duty or acting in order to bring about good consequences
  • A virtue ethicist is likely to give you this kind of moral advice: "Act as a virtuous person would act in your situation."
• Aristotle


  • One of the famous Greek philosophers who influenced different fields of knowledge
  • He was a naturalist who emphasized that we must understand first how nature works before we begin to make theories
• Aristotle's Virtue Ethics


  • A virtuous person is someone who has ideal character traits
  • These traits derive from natural internal tendencies, but need to be nurtured
  • Once established, they will become stable
  • Unlike deontological and consequentialist theories, virtue ethics theories do not aim primarily to identify universal principles that can be applied in any moral situation
  • Virtue ethics theories deal with wider questions—"How should I live?" and "What is the good life?" and "What are proper family and social values?"
• Telos


  The inherent purpose of each thing, the ultimate reason for each thing being the way it is
• Natural objects

  • Trees
  • Plants
  • Animals
• Telos of humans


  • Happiness, or eudemonia (fulfillment)
  • Fulfillment of our potential for excellence, or "virtues"
• Soul (according to Aristotle)

  • The nutritive soul
  • The sensible soul
  • The rational soul
• Nutritive soul


  • The first and most widely shared among all living things
  • Urges any creature to protect itself and produce offspring
• Sensible soul


  Allows us to perceive the world around us, remember things, experience pain and pleasure, and have appetites and desires
• Rational soul


  • Belongs to humans alone
  • Allows us to engage in rational thought, including the passive intellect (collecting and storing information) and the active intellect (applying information to our betterment)
• Modern science has disproven much of Aristotle's ideas on the soul
• Virtue as a habit

  Moral virtue involves developing habits of right thinking, right choices, and right behavior
• Virtue as the "golden mean"


  • Virtue is the mean between two extremes (vices)
  • The mean is relative and varies based on individual differences and circumstances
• Theoretical reasoning


  Knowledge of universal principles, answering "what is good?"
• Practical reasoning


  Guides our everyday actions and morals, answering "how can I be good?"
• Happiness as telos


  • Happiness is the soul working by way of excellence and virtue
  • Anything that blocks or stops this is considered bad
• Theoretical Reasoning


  About knowledge of universal principles. Answers the question, "what is good?"
• Practical Reasoning


  Guides our everyday actions and morals. Answers the question, "how can I be good?"
• Types of Reasoning


  • Theoretical Reasoning
  • Practical Reasoning
• Simply knowing the facts will not make us moral
• Practical Reasoning leads to

  • Right Thinking
  • Right Choices
  • Right Behavior
• Happiness as Telos


  The soul working by way of excellence and virtue
• Theoretical and practical reasoning are always congruent
• Sensuous desires can overpower responsible choices
• Virtues are the expression of a balanced life
• If we are to achieve happiness, we must live a life of reason
• Anything that blocks/stops us from achieving our purpose will bring us sadness and anything that supports/fulfils it will bring us happiness
• According to Aristotle, this


  Results when the rational and irrational parts of the soul are in conflict
• St. Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican priest who is considered as one of the most influential thinkers of the Medieval Era
• St. Thomas combined the theological principles of faith and the philosophical principles of reason
• Revelation could guide reason and reason could clarify faith
• Eudaimonia


  Happiness, understood in terms of completion, perfection, or well-being
• We can never achieve complete or final happiness in this life
• Final happiness consists in beatitude, or supernatural union with God
• We inherited a propensity to sin from our first parent, Adam
• God imbues us with his grace which comes in the form of divinely instantiated virtues and gifts
• Four Types of Law According to St. Thomas Aquinas

  • Eternal Law
  • Natural Law
  • Human Law
  • Divine Law
• Eternal Law


  Laws that govern the nature of the eternal universe
• Natural Law


  Laws that flow from the eternal law and govern the behavior of human beings for them to achieve eternal salvation