VIRTUE ETHICS

EUDAIMONIA

  • Aristotle started from the teleological claim that every action is aimed at attaining some good
  • some aims are subordinate to higher ends
  • this suggests that there is some final and ultimate end to which every action is geared
  • The final end is EUDAIMONIA
    • For Aristotle, this was not pleasure, honour or wealth
    • He worked out how he understood eudomonia through his function argument and examination of virtues

THE FUNCTION ARGUMENT

  • Everything has a function
    • goodness consists in performing ones function well (e.g knifes goodness lies in its capacity to cut efficiently
  • everything living has a soul
    • the nature of the soul determines the function e.g plant fulfils its function through taking I food & growing
  • The uniqueness of the human soul lies in its capacity for rational though
    • reasoning well is how humans attain goodness and that entails exercising virtue dor their entire lives

DOCTRINE OF THE GOLDEN MEAN

  • the golden mean helps people to act virtuously
  • emotions can be excessive or deficient , so practical wisdom steers a person to the mean between those 2 extremes
    • this is where moral virtues lie
  • the mean is not a fixed point or rule
    • its relative to each individual
    • it also takes into account the circumstances
    • for instance, the facing an enemy attack, it would not be appropriate for a soldier to respond with restrain, which might be seen as the halfway point between
    • in this instance, courage would be shown n spirited defence
  • A PHRONIMOS(man of practical wisdom) provides the guide to what the mean is for each individual
    • this may be the person concerned, or someone else

VIRTUES

  • You must develop virtues through habit
  • we must follow the example of virtuous people e.g ghandi or mother theresa
  • E.G bravery:
    • the vice of deficiency is cowardice
    • the vice of excess is foolishness

JUSTICE

  • Aristotle listed justice as a virtue
    • however it has no excess of deficiency
    • its an altruistic virtue
    • justice encompasses all other virtues
  • 2 types of virtue:
    • Intellectual: developed by teaching & education(e.g temperance, courage)
    • Moral: cant be taught, come from habit & experience (e.g wisdom, cleverness)

IMPORTANCE OF PROPER INTENTION

  • People are acting virtuously id they know what theyre doing
    • e.g if someone who jumped into a fast-flowing river to save a drowning child did not know he was in danger of drowning himself, then he is not acting virtuously
  • its not possible to be virtuous by accident
  • people are also only acing virtuously if their act is a reasoned choice
    • e.g if when eating they make a rational decision to refrain from greedy self-indulgence, then they are acting virtiously
    • itts not virtuous if the action is motivated by desire or impressing others
  • a proper intention is essential to perform a cirtuous action
    • this entails thinking about the action and making a choice based on reason