Aristotelian Virtue Ethics

Question 1

virtue ethics

Answer 1

-primarily a character based moral theory
- focuses on the moral goodness of an individuals character as opposed to the rightness of actions
- not centred around moral actions
- actions reveal the goodness of ones character they do not determine the goodness of ones character
-also referred to as Eudemonistic Virtue Ethics

Question 2

simplified central claims of Virtue Ethics

Answer 2

Being a morally good person involves actively having a virtuous character(the how). WHY? Being a virtuous person is morally good because it contributes to the attainment of Eudaimonia (ultimate happiness)

-teleological not consequentialist?
- cares about being a morally good person and what kind of life is morally good for people (Eudaimonia)
- emphasis on how ones dispositions(character) contribute to or obstruct the attainment of Eudaimonia
- how ones character facilitates the attainment of Eudaimonia is at the center of moral deliberation

Question 3

Eudaimonia

Answer 3

• ultimate Happiness (capital H)
  to attain Eudaimonia you must have morally good character. Having a morally good character amounts to being a virtuous person which involves consistently acting in a virtuous manner

Aristotle claims that:
“every act and every enquirer, and similarly every action and pursuit is though to aim at some good and for this reason, The Good is rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim”

Question 4

Distinction between intrinsic good and instrumental good

Answer 4

An instrumental good is a good usually pursued for the sake of some other Good
-For Aristotle these goods typify most of our daily pursuits and life goals

why?
because they are aimed at an all encompassing Good which is intrinsically good or valuable which is considered to be Eudaimonia

Intrinsic good is the good to which all other goods are aimed
-it is pursued for its own sake bot because it leads to another good

Question 5

Formal definition of Eudaimonia

Answer 5

it is the Chief Good to which human life is aimed

“if then there is some End (ultimate goal to be attained) of the things we do which we desire for its own sake(everything else being desired for the sake of this) and if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else(for at that rate the process would go on to infinity, so that our desire would be empty and vain) clearly this (eudaimonia) must be the good and the chief good”

Question 6

The Function Argument

Answer 6

According to Aristotle the best way to attain Eudaimonia is if we fulfill our function as human beings. Our function is to live an actively rational life well and excellently
- the Function Argument is used is demonstrate that human beings can only attain what is morally good for them by being virtuous .

Question 7

The Function Argument claims

Answer 7

1. Everything has a function so humans must have one too
2. The human function must be distinctive of humans
3. The human functioning is living an active rational life
4. The virtue of X consists in performing X’s function well
5. So human virtue consists in living an active, rational life well
6. Living well is morally good for humans i.e. it fulfils them
7. It is through living well(being virtuous) that human beings can get fulfilled because they can attain Eudaimonia

Question 8

The central claim of The Function Argument

Answer 8

having a good character requires being virtuous. Being virtuous is about living an active and fully rational life excellently. Finally, being virtuous is morally good because it contributes to ones Flourishing or Eudaimonia

Question 9

Virtues

Answer 9

• Kinds of character traits or dispositions which are morally good
• not having virtue is considered morally blameworthy and displays morally bad character
• a virtue can never be morally bad or neutral, they are always morally good
• virtues are stable, you cannot simply decide to learn virtues, they are habituated and consistently practiced over time to be possessed
• Aristotle thinks virtues are objective and universal in nature but are practically realizable in multiple ways depending on the situation

Question 10

How does one become virtuous

Answer 10

1. Habituation(inculcation)
2. one must be virtuous in displaying virtues hollistically throughout their lives and in situation s where they are required (making them a habit)

Question 11

Habituation relevance to moral virtues

Answer 11

• a particular kind of moral education or upbringing you receive during your development as a moral agent
• involves continued moral nurturing being guided on how to act and behave virtuously
• involves the development of practical reasoning, involving developing your reasoning capacities to help you attain the chief Good
• works by observing eg. courage and in it being a habit it becomes a in a sense who you are

Question 12

Importance of Habituation

Answer 12

• ones character is difficult to change once one becomes an adult
• you need to have enough exp with the virtue to display it consistently
• late virtue training would mean that it becomes difficult to become virtuous later
• if you acquire vices earlier in your life, it might lead to you becoming a vicious person
• habituation via inculcation and making virtues a habit is how you become virtuous

Question 13

Determining Virtues

Answer 13

The dispositions which accord with the Doctrine of the Mean are virtues
- the dispositions that lie in deficiency or excess to the Mean are vices
- The Doctrine of the Mean is a rational principle to be employed hen looking to what the virtuous thing to do is in any given situation

Question 14

The Doctrine of the Mean (Golden Mean)

Answer 14

Every virtue will be located as a mean (middle ground or balance) between two correlative vices. A virtue is what induces a proportional exercise of a particular disposition, where vices involve deficient or excessive exercise of a particular disposition disproportional to what may be sufficiently required

Question 15

Doctrine of the Mean cont

Answer 15

Deficiency(Vice)- cowardice evil
Mean(Virtue)- courage friendliness
Excess(Vice)- Rashness or “sucking up”

According with the Doctrine of the Mean:
A virtuous person will hit the right with virtues (display golden mean character traits) and have the appropriate disposition and responses to any given situation whereas a vicious person will tend to go too far or not do enough

Question 16

Eudaimonic Virtue Ethics

Answer 16

The character-based ethical theory claiming that having a morally good character requires one to be virtuous, where virtue are morally good because they enable the attainment of Eudaimonia

Question 17

Eudaimonia is

Answer 17

Attained through completing our human function which is to live actively rational lives well. Completing our function well we become virtuous

Question 18

How do you know if you are being virtuous?

Answer 18

when your actions and behaviour consistently accord with the DoM that guides your practical reasoning(your disposition is proportional to what may be required in any situation)

Question 19

Critiques of Virtue Ethics

Answer 19

1. Self Effacement
2. Moral Responsibility
3. Moral Relevance of virtues
4. Are virtues culturally relative
5. Conflicting virtues
6. Practical Incompleteness
7. Eudaimonic Prudentialism

Question 20

Self Effacement

Answer 20

The formal critique: Bernhard Williams “one too many thoughts” or Self Effacement Objection
- this is a challenge to the internal consistency of the theory
- actin gin accordance to the theory seemingly results in undermining the theory
- to act because it is the virtuous thing to do seemingly effaces or because it faciliitates attaining Eudaimonia(create doubt of/undermines) the fact that one acted virtuously
- being motivated by the theories prescription that we should do the virtuous thing and Eudaimonia seems to undermine the fact that you have actually acted virtuously in that situation

Question 21

Moral Responsibility

Answer 21

• this challenge focuses on the implication of the claim that virtues are habituated or inculcated

concerns raised:
1. If virtues depend on whether they were inculcated in us by others, then how can I be fully morally responsible for the dispositions (virtues or vices) that I display? How much of any virtuousness is my own doing and hence my own responsibility

2. if my virtues or vices are a result of my moral upbringing, how does it make sense to morally praise or blame me for my dispositions and behaviour

-we have little control over how we are nurtured or habituated therefore we cannot be held morally responsible (morally praised or blamed) for the dispositions we display

Question 22

Response to Moral Responsibility critique

Answer 22

MR states that VE seems inconsistent with our background assumptions that a moral theory should appropriately ascribe moral responsibility because the role of habituation results in VE being unable to account for people to be held morally responsible for their actions

response:
- we do have significant control over our behaviour and actions in our later life
- ergo we are still in a position where we can alter our dispositions to be more virtuous. The ability to act otherwise preserves the idea that you can be morally responsible for your virtuousness (libertarianism view)

Question 23

Moral Relevance of Virtues

Answer 23

Aristotle provides that virtues are morally relevant because they contribute to the attainment of a moral good or Eudaimonia
- this critique asks if virtues always contribute to the attainment of Eudaimonia
- the virtues might not guarantee the attainment of Eudaimonia which would render them instrumentally morally irrelevant

Question 24

Are Virtues culturally relative

Answer 24

This critique concerns internal consistency, consistency with considered moral judgments and background assumptions about morality
- ideal moral theory should give us a stable and universalizable standard of moral character and should match our CMJ

Aristotle seemingly just identifies desirable dispositions as virtues simply because they are good in his culture and we dont give how character traits in themselves are objectively arrived at

implication:
Virtues in this way becomes anachronistic and culturally relative resulting in the moral arbitrariness and contradiction of virtues

Question 25

Conflicting virtues s

Answer 25

this critique asks what happens if virtues conflict and how should one act virtuous in such a situation
eg. justice and kindness might conflict

if virtues can conflict then this shows the theory to be internally inconsistent and not useful as a guide for ho we ought to behave in some situations

Question 26

Response to Conflicting Virtues critique

Answer 26

1. Virtues are a Unity
   - they could claim that virtues are in a coherent relation to each other i.e. they for a unity
   - could just say that the person is not applying their practical reasoning well if virtues end up conflicting
   - but this is implausible because ti has bee shown that they can conflict
2. There is a hierarchy depending on the scenario
   - issue is how do we non arbitrarily determine which ones are more important and how much the contribute to your eudaimonia

Question 27

Practical Incompleteness

Answer 27

This critique concerns virtue ethics usefulness in moral problem solving providing that VE gives no practical guidance for moral actions

1. Virtue Ethics doesn’t really give us an idea of how to act morally in certain situations only how to be(casuistry issue)
   - when in a moral dilemma such as the trolley problem VE fails to provide guidance on how to act
2. VE may be unable to tell us which actions are morally right or wrong, which we would still like a moral theory to do (Applied Ethic issues)
   - some action are morally contentious (genetic modification, abortion) and cannot provide us with a way to decide their moral status

Question 28

Eudaimonic Prudentialism

Answer 28

Moral goodness of virtues hinges on their relationship with the attainment of Eudaimonia. Aristotle argues that we are meant to be virtuous because it is goof for us and results in Eudaimonia

issue:
-as Soren Kierkegaard notes, Eudaimonia (Aristotelian Virtue Ethics) makes ethics dependent on prudentialism which involve doing an action because it is likeliest to bring about a certain favourable outcome
- the issue with prudentialism is that it undermines moral character by making people motivated to act for derivative reasons outside of the morality of the action itself