Download Morality as Virtue: Aristotle

Chapter 7: Ethics
Morality as Virtue: Aristotle
Introducing Philosophy, 10th edition
Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen Higgins, and
Clancy Martin
Virtue
• Aristotle’s conception of virtue is based on
the idea that man is a rational being
• Thus, for Aristotle, virtue is a rational
activity: activity in accordance with a
rational principle
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
• One of the greatest Western philosophers, born
in northern Greece (Stagira); father was the
physician to Philip, king of Macedonia
• Was to tutor Philip’s son, Alexander the Great
• For eighteen years he was a student in Plato’s
Academy, where he learned and parted from
Plato’s views
• Turned to the study of biology; many of his
theories ruled Western science until the
Renaissance
• Was with Alexander until 335 B.C.E., when he
returned to Athens to set up his own school, the
Lyceum
• After Alexander’s death, the anti-Macedonian
sentiment in Athens forced Aristotle to flee
• Virtually created the sciences of logic and
linguistics, developed extravagant theories in
physics and astronomy, and made significant
contributions to metaphysics, ethics, politics,
and aesthetics
• Metaphysics is still a basic text on the subject
• Nicomachean Ethics codified ancient Greek
morality; stresses individual virtue and
excellence
• The best life of all is the life of
contemplation, the life of a philosopher,
for it is the most self-contained and the
“closest to the gods”
• Such contemplation must be together
with the pleasures of life, honor, wealth,
and virtuous action
Happiness
• Every act is for the sake of something else.
But because there can be no infinite regress,
there must be an end. What is the natural end
that is the natural good for man? Aristotle
claims that it is happiness
• Happiness is what men desire for its own
sake and is the natural good for man.
Happiness, for Aristotle, is living according to
rationality, the exercise of our most vital
faculties
Reason
• The good for man is that which is “natural” to
him. What is “natural” to man is his
rationality. But action according to rational
principles is what Aristotle thinks virtue is
• Thus, happiness is an “activity of the soul in
accordance with perfect virtue”
Society
• Virtue is a social conception and not limited
to just the individual. Many of Aristotle’s
virtues have much to do with one’s role in
society. Happiness, therefore, also has social
dimensions
• Aristotle’s conception of happiness
(eudaimonia) is different than the modern
conception. Happiness is more like “living
well” or “flourishing”
Two Kinds of Virtue
• The practical or moral virtues and the
intellectual virtues
• Moral virtues come to virtuous people
“naturally”; in other words, virtuous people
have virtue built into their characters
The Golden Mean
• Virtue as a mean between two extremes
• Not the same as moderation
• Examples:
– Courage is the mean between cowardice and
rashness
– Temperance is the mean between self-indulgence
and insensitivity
– Magnificence is the mean between vulgarity and
miserliness
– Pride is the mean between humility and vanity
– Wittiness is the mean between buffoonery and
boorishness
Morality and Sentiment:
Hume and Rousseau
• Hume: “reason is and ought to be the slave
of the passions”
– Reason can assist in acquiring our desires
but not in determining our desires
– Cannot derive “ought” from “is”
• Rousseau: conscience–a powerful moral
feeling
– Problems:
• When in disagreement, what standard
adjudicates?
• In agreement, how can we know we are
correct?