virtue ethics

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Cards (42)

  • virtue ethics says we shouldn't focus on following guidelines
    we should aim to become better people and develop positive character traits called virtues
    as we develop these virtues we will make better choices
  • virtue ethics aims to help people achieve their potential as human beings rather than focusing on the rightness/wrongness of their actions.
  • the ultimate end of ends and the greatest good is called eudaimonia
  • eudaimonia encompasses three ways of understanding happiness
    -as a life of enjoyment of pleasure
    -a free member of society
    -as a philosopher
  • eudaimonia must be deserved happiness
  • the function argument
    relation between goodness and function
    • function in greek is ergon meaning work or accomplishment, eg a good knife is one that works well and fulfils its purpose
  • aristotle defines the hierarchy of souls
    plants - vegetative - nutrition and growth
    animals - sensitive - nutrition and growth, movement, sense perception, low level thought
    humans - rational - nutrition and growth, movement, sense perception and reason
  • a good life means we have to exercise reason well
  • eudaimonia is happiness or flourishing
    • Aristotle believed that everything has a purpose – the good for a knife is to cut, and a good knife is one that cuts well.
    • In the same way, Eudaimonia is the ‘good’ for a person.
    • ‘Eudaimonia’ is the end goal or purpose behind everything we do as people, and is desired for its own sake – it is an end in itself.
  • aristotle also argued friendship was the key to eudaimonia
    • living alongside good people inspires our behaviour
    • vices eventually disappear
  • virtue ethics is agent centred. its about the person performing the actions, not the action performed
  • the moral development of the person counts more than the act
  • virtue ethics can appear selfish, but the theory has the intention of achieving eudaimonia and so personal achievement impacts upon society
  • there are two types of virtues:
    • intellectual, which are developed by training yourself and being educated
    • moral, which are developed by practice and habit
  • the four cardinal virtues are justice, courage, temperance and prudence
  • justice - treating people equally and fairly
  • courage - confronting fears etc
  • temperance - moderation
  • prudence - practical wisdom
  • the two vices are deficience and excessiveness
  • vice of deficiency
    lack of virtue
  • vice of excess
    too much of a virtue
  • the virtue exists at the point between the two vices - this is called the doctrine of the mean
  • vice of deficiency - cowardice
    mean - courage
    vice of excess - rashness
  • in summation, virtue ethics consists of...
    the doctrine of the mean
    relevant virtues and vices
    good and bad habit forming behaviour
    virtuous role models
  • problems for the mean
    how can the true mid point be definitive
    intuition?
    how do we deal with traditions?
  • problems for role models
    how do we decide which parts of their life is virtuous? eg hitler
  • strengths of virtue ethics
    avoids use of formula
    different but good ways of acting virtuously
    distinguishes between good people and those who just follow rules
  • weaknesses of virtue ethics
    eudaimonia is too idyllic
    some things dont have a mean eg rape
    no concrete answers
    immoral actions are praised
    • philippa foot
  • modern virtue ethicists include philippa foot, rosaline hursthouse, alasdair mcintyre and michael slote
  • philippa foot
    virtues are only virtuous as long as they are correctly used to bring a good outcome
  • rosalind hursthouse
    though it may not explain exactly how a person would or should act, but it does explain how a virtuous person would think about the moral dilemma
  • alasdair mcintyre
    ancient virtues are not necessarily relevant to the modern world
  • michael slote
    agent-based – which means that the moral rightness of acts is based on the virtuous motives or characters of the agent. This contrasts with Aristotle who was agent-focused – which means that the inner life of the agent is the focus.