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Virtue Ethics
Another amusing and easy topic for A2 ethics
Virtue Ethics begins with Aristotle, who was
a student of Plato and, ultimately, rejected
Plato’s teachings. This disagreement gave
rise to a fundamental dispute in moral
philosophy: what is good?
Plato gave a ‘metaphysical’ account of
goodness. He regarded the good as
something real – the ultimate reality which is
the source of our being. Thus, our job is to
contemplate the good. That is the ultimate
aim of philosophy.
Aristotle, meanwhile, criticised what Plato
had said about goodness. He instead gave a
naturalistic and psychological account of
good – it is a part of our natural dispositions
as human beings. This led Aristotle to the
idea of purpose. Ethical life means living in
tune with our natural purpose of rational and
virtuous behaviour. This makes Aristotle’s
virtue ethics a ‘teleological’ system.
Nice beard Plato,
but you haven’t
understood the
nature of goodness.
It is natural, not
metaphysical.
Aristotle’s Ethics
• Discussed in his book Nicomachean Ethics
• Instead of offering ‘normative ethics’ (i.e.
claims about what is right or wrong), Aristotle
put forward a system which is ‘aretaic’ (arête
is Greek for ‘excellence’), focused on the
character of the individual. In other words,
aretaic virtue ethics focuses upon the desire
to be a person of a certain quality.
• Aristotle thought that the purpose in our life
is to become happy by practising the ‘skill’ of
virtuous behaviour. This ultimate aim (telos –
Greek) is called eudaimonia (‘well-spirited’ –
so roughly, ‘flourishing’), referring to the idea
that the person practising virtue feels fulfilled
and content.
“[Pleasure] is also thought
to be most important for
the forming of a virtuous
character to like and dislike
the right things.”
Qualities of Happiness and the Human
Valuing pleasure, however, can be unclear: what is
happiness? Aristotle distinguished between three types
of happy people:
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Pleasure seekers are driven by basic desires (food, sex)
Honour seekers are driven by their reputations (politicians)
Lovers of contemplation are philosophers and thinkers
Pleasure seekers follow the lowest form whereas
contemplation lovers achieve what is best. The ‘servile’
masses prefer pleasure, but not philosophers. Humans have
the distinctive power of reasoning, which makes them the
‘rational animals’ and so they should strive for what is better.
The human soul itself is divided into the rational and irrational
parts. The key aspect of the rational human soul is its division
into the scientific and calculative, which holds a priori
knowledge and makes decisions.
Virtue Ethics involves a person making full and harmonious
use of the soul.
The Virtues
For Aristotle, the good life meant following the doctrine of
the mean, the middle path between extremes. Being
virtuous means being neither deficient nor excessive, but
properly balanced. For instance, it is virtuous to have
courage by avoiding a deficiency of courage (cowardice)
and avoiding excessive courage (rashness). One learns to
pick up the right balance of behaviour through practice and
habit.
Aristotle distinguished between intellectual and moral
virtues, setting out what he saw as 12 key moral virtues with
their corresponding deficiencies and excesses.
Examples
Modesty is a virtue. Those deficient in modesty are shameless, but those excessive
in modesty are bashful.
Wittiness is a virtue. Those deficient in wit are boorish, but those excessive in wit
are guilty of buffoonery.
WARNING: Deficiency of Virtue in
our useless modern world!
After years of Virtue Ethics being unfashionable,
in 1958 the philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe
wrote in ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ that all of our
modern morality is misguided – just plain wrong.
We have mistakenly supposed that ‘goodness’ is
a property of actions rather than of people. To
resolve this mess, Anscombe proposed that we
turn back to Aristotle and rediscover the idea of
personal virtue.
The Mac Attack: Virtue is Back
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Having been inspired by ethicists like Anscombe, the
philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre wrote a hugely influential
book After Virtue. Essentially, he considers the history of
Virtue Ethics and attempts to produce a version of the
system which can work in the modern age.
MacIntyre observes that ancient societies developed a
series of virtues agreed by their inhabitants. The high
point of this, claims MacIntyre, was the Athenian Virtues
of Aristotle.
However, since the Enlightenment, rational philosophers
have sought to give a single account of the cause of
ethics, ignoring the most important aspect: individual
practice.
MacIntyre argues that having a set of agreed virtues for
our society could help to give life purpose and meaning.
He suggests: courage, justice, temperance, wisdom,
industriousness, hope, and patience.
MacIntyre claimed that if we all willed to put such virtues
into practice in our lives, it could give morality a fresh
start.
The Virtues of Virtue Ethics
Key strengths
Virtue Ethics allows that we learn
about ethics over time. Surely that’s
realistic.
Virtue Ethics is flexible, because it does
not prescribe absolute duties.
The theory allows that ideas of virtue
will vary among cultures.
Martha Nussbaum has argued that
Virtue Ethics is compassionate and
caring because it takes the whole
person into account. It is interested in
the wellbeing and fulfilment of the
individual.
The Vices of Virtue Ethics
The theory does not give clear moral rules and
guidance, unlike Kantian ethics or Natural
Moral Law. Robert Louden has claimed that
Virtue Ethics cannot resolve moral dilemmas,
because it does not tell us what to do.
D’oh!
Hugo Grotius argued that truth and justice are
not middle ways, but ethical absolutes.
Virtue Ethics does not deal with the problem of
people doing wrong, thinking that they are
acting virtuously.
Some things are always wrong (Louis Pojman
suggests torturing the innocent). We need
moral systems which absolutely forbid these
things, but Virtue Ethics doesn’t.
Key weaknesses