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Philosophy > Aristotelian virtue ethics > Flashcards

Aristotelian virtue ethics Flashcards

1
Q

what is Aristotelian virtue ethics main claim

A
  • a morally good life is one where humans fulfil their function through exhibiting good character (virtue)
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2
Q

what does Aristotelian ethicists focus on

A
  • the actor (the person) and their character, rather than the act..
  • they focus on a morally good life as opposed to a morally good action.
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3
Q

what is a morally good life

A
  • a morally good life is one that is lived well one in which you FLOURISH (where you achieve EUDAIMONIA).
    must apply to a person’s life as a whole. A day or even year of living well doesn’t amount to a good life.
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4
Q

how does one flourish

A

in order to flourish, you need to fulfil the function that is unique to/characteristic human beings,

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5
Q

virtues

A

qualities of a character that you have which enables you to fulfil the function well

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6
Q

what is acquiring virtues like

A

acquiring firtues is like, but not exactly like, acquiring a skill

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7
Q

what does acting virtuously require

A

requires practical wisdom

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8
Q

what does each virtue sit between

A

vice of excess and vice of deficiency

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9
Q

what does being virtuous mean

A

acting in the right way at all times, but also feeing the right way in response to situations.
- to feel feelings and perform actions in the right way at the right times

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10
Q

when can we only be held morally responsible

A

when we:
a. had sufficient knowledge
b. acted voluntarily

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11
Q

what is eudaimonia

A
  • living well/flourishing is the highest good for human beings .
  • eudaemonia is the highest good: all other activities are done for the sake of eudaimonia; eudaemonia is not done for the sake of anything else.
  • eudaimonia is not the same as pleasure/feelings of happiness.
  • eudaimonia carries with it a sense of achievement, success and moral excellence.
  • a dynamic condition of the soul: it requires the exercise of our full potential and capacities as a human being and so is the state of being in which we will flourish as moral individuals.
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12
Q

why is eudaimonia the overall end goal for us

A

-our different activities aim at various goods, for example medicine aims at health, military strategy aims at victory.
-any action or activity there is always a purpose for which we undertake it- an end.

  • complex activities such as medicine have many component activities such as making pharmaceuticals making surgical implements, diagnosis.
    -where an activity has different components like this, the overall end (health) is better or ‘more preferable’. this is because these activities are undertaken for the sake of the overall end. we undertake actions and activities either for the sake of something further of for their own sake.
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13
Q

what does Aristotle insist that ethics is not…

A

a theoretic discipline

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14
Q

why is ethics not a theoretical discipline

A

as we are asking what the good for human being is not simply because we want to have knowledge, but because we will be better to able to achieve our good if we develop a fuller understanding of what it is like to flourish.
- Aristotle assumes that such a list can be complied rather easily

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15
Q

how is eudaimonia the highest end

A

No one tries to live well for the sake of some further goal; rather, being eudaimon is the highest end, and all subordinate goals—health, wealth, and other such resources—are sought because they promote well-being

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16
Q

what is the function argument and the relationship between virtues and function

A

P1: the function of a human is whatever humans can do that non-humans cannot (characteristic form of activity)
P2: humans can grow and reproduce, but so can plats and non-human animals.
P3: humans can move and perceive, but so can non-human animals.
P4: only humans can reason; plants/non-human animals cannot.
C1: therefore, using reason is the function of a human.
P5: a good x (human, plant, knife, etc) is one that fulfils the function (ergon) of X well. the characteristic activity provides an insight into what type of thing something is. it thereby provides an evaluative standard for that thing; something is a good x when it performs its characteristic activity well. if the ergon of a knife is to cut, a good knife cuts well
C2: therefore a good human is one that uses reason well.
P6: virtues are qualities of something that allows it to fulfil its function well (arete)
C3: therefore, in order to be a good human and so flourish and achieve eudaimona, we need to have particular virtues (i.e. qualities that allow us to reason well).

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17
Q

ergon

A

the Ergon of an object is the characteristic form of activity.
the ergon of an eye is to see.
the ergon of a knife is to cut things

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17
Q

what is an arete

A
  • a quality that aids the fulfilment of a things ergon.
  • a knifes arete is the sharpness of the knife, designed for its function which is to cut.
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18
Q

what does Aristotle mean by ‘reasoning’

A

a human life is distinctively the life of a being that can be guided by reason.
what is characteristic of us is that whatever we do, we do for reasons; all of our actives, not just ‘reasoning’ are or can be guided by reasons.
- Being guided by reasons is a matter of our psychology, and so Aristotle talks of the activity of the soul (psyche).

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19
Q

what is Aristotles argument for virtues as character traits/dispositions

A

P1: virtues are part of the soul (the mind) and so they must be either a passion, a faculty or a state (trait) of character.
P2: virtues cant be passion (i.e. bodily appetites, emotions, pleasure/pain) because 1) just having/not having a particular passion doesn’t make you a good or bad person, but having/not having virtues does. 2) we dont choose our passions, but virtues are related to the choices we make. We cannot generally, just by an act of will, choose what we feel or want.
P3: virtues are not faculties (i.e. things like sight or the ability to feel fear) because we have these naturally, but we have to acquire virtue.
C1: therefore, virtues are states of character.

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20
Q

Dispositions

A

a disposition is a tendency to behave in a particular way in particular circumstances.

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21
Q

how does character involve a persons disposition

A

relate to what, in different circumstances, they feel, how they think, how they react, the sorts of choices they make, and the actions they perform. So someone is short-tempered if they are disposed to feel angry quickly and often

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22
Q

what is the doctrine of the mean

A
  • each virtue lies between a vice of excess and a vice deficiency which requires judgement.
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23
Q

why is the doctrine of the mean not a mathematical mean

A

what the mean is will depend on the person, and the circumstances.

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24
Q

uncodifiable

A

cant be captured in one or more rules

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25
Q

why does Aristotle think ethics is ‘uncodifiable’

A

as it is not a mathematical mean.

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26
Q

how does Aristotle compare living well with other activities using the doctrine of the mean

A

Aristotle compares living well with other activities, such as eating well or physical training:
- In these cases, the good nutritionist or good trainer needs to avoid prescribing too much food or exercise or too little.
- We achieve health and physical fitness by following an ‘intermediate’ course of action. However, what this is differs from person to person. A professional sportsman needs more food and exercise than most people. An ‘objective’ intermediate (or ‘mean’) is a mathematical quantity, halfway between the two extremes, as 6 is halfway between 2 and 10. But in human activity, the intermediate (‘mean’) is not a mathematical mean as it is relative to each individual.

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27
Q

vice of deficiency

A

too little

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28
Q

vice of excess

A

too much

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29
Q

what is the vice of deficiency, virtue and vice of excess for ‘fear’

A

vice of deficiency: cowardly
virtue: courageous
vice of excess: rash

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30
Q

what is the vice of deficiency, virtue and vice of excess for pleasure/pain

A

vice of deficiency: insensible
virtue: temperate
vice of excess: self-indulgent

31
Q

what is the role of education/habituation in the development of a moral character

A

acquiring a virtue requires:
- education
- a good role model
- practice and habituation

32
Q

why does acquiring a virtue need practice

A
  • Aristotle believes that the moral life is not constructed through obedience to imposed rules but through the individual’s motivation to achieve happiness/flourishing (eudaimonia)..
  • This desire for happiness/flourishing further reveals that leading a moral life is not something that we automatically possess but rather something that can only be acquired and developed by practice so that it becomes a habit.
33
Q

how does training and practice make the good will achieved

A
  • training converts a capacity into a habit; and it is through habit that the virtues become an intrinsic part of ourselves.
  • it is through the repetition of right acts that we acquire the right type of character and thereby flourish as individuals.
34
Q

who are the ‘role models’ that we follow

A

one way to learn how to be virtuous is to follow the example of VIRTUOUS PEOPLE (MORAL EXEMPLARS) and seek to imitate them
however, no one should be blindly copied because what the person did may not be precisely relevant for our situation.

35
Q

what are virtuous people known as

A

moral exemplars

36
Q

what are the 2 types of virtue

A
  • moral virtue
  • intellectual virtue
37
Q

what is intellectual virtue

A
  • owes both its both and its growth to teaching which is why it requires experience and time
38
Q

what is moral value

A

moral value comes about as a result of habit.
it does not arise in us by nature as nothing tat exists by nature can form a habit contrary to its nature.
e.g. the stone which by nature moves downwards cannot be habituated to move towards, nor can anything else that by nature behaves in one way be trained to behave in another.
- we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit.

39
Q

are we able to exhibit the activity later in life

A

we first acquire the potentiality and later exhibit the activity (e.g. in the case of the senses; for it was not by often seeing or often hearing that we got these senses, but on the contrary we had them before we used them, and did not come to have them by using them).
however the virtues we get by exercising also happens in the case of arts; For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them(e.g. men become builders by building)

40
Q

how long does moral character develop

A
  • moral character develops over a long period of time as people are born with all sorts of natural tendencies. Some of these natural tendencies will be positive such as having a friendly nature; and some will be negative such as having a jealous nature.
  • These natural tendencies can be encouraged and developed or discouraged and thwarted by the influences one is exposed to when growing up.
  • The development of moral character may take a whole lifetime. But once it is firmly established, one will act consistently, predictably and appropriately in a variety of situations.
41
Q

what are the factors that can affect ones character development

A

one’s parents, teachers, peer group, role-models, the degree of encouragement and attention one receives, and exposure to different situations.
Our natural tendencies, the raw material we are born with, are shaped and developed through a long and gradual process of education and habituation.

42
Q

what is habituation

A

Habituation is merely an aid to the development of virtue
this is a process of habituating oneself in right action. Aristotle advises us to perform just acts because this way we become just. The student of virtue must develop the right habits, so that he tends to perform virtuous acts. Virtue is not itself a habit.

43
Q

what does the virtuous agent require

A
  • true virtue requires choice, understanding, and knowledge.
  • The virtuous agent doesn’t act justly merely out of an unreflective response, but has come to recognise the value of virtue and why it is the appropriate response.
  • Virtue is chosen knowingly for its own sake.
44
Q

why is ethics described as ‘unmodifiable’

A
  • ethics cannot be captured in one rule or principle
  • Ethics is too diverse and imprecise to be captured in a rigid code, so we must approach morality with a theory that is as flexible and as situation-responsive as the subject matter itself
45
Q

practical wisdom

A
  • the reasoning we use to make changes in the world, and to make choices
    it is required for an action to be fully virtuous.
    -it does not consider in a set of rules: it will be context dependent
  • it cannot be taught and cannot be captured in rules as it requires experience and practice.
46
Q

how does Aristotle define virtue

A

‘a state of character concerned with choice, lying in the mean i.e. the mean relative to us, this being determined by a rational principle and by that the principle by which the person of practical wisdom wicked determine it’

47
Q

what is practical wisdom

A

an intellectual virus, a virtue of practical reasoning.

48
Q

what are the 2 types of reasoning

A
  • theoretical reasoning
  • practical reasoning
49
Q

theoretical reasoning

A

investigates what we can’t change and aims at the truth

50
Q

practical reasoning

A
  • investigates what we can change and aims at making good choices.
  • ‘a true and reasoned state of capacity to act with regard to the things that are good or bad for man’.
51
Q

how is practical reasoning expressed

A

expressed in deliberation.
to make good choices, not only must our reasoning be correct but we also must have the right desires

52
Q

what is deliberation

A

reasoning about what we can change is deliberation.
the person with practical wisdom deliberates well about how to live a good life.

53
Q

what are the 4 things that practical requires

A
  1. general knowledge
  2. particular knowledge
  3. an ability to reason/delierate well towards a choice
  4. the ability to act on that deliberation
54
Q

why is general knowledge required in practical reasoning

A

it is a general conception of what is good or bad, related to the condition for human flourishing.
it is knowledge of which ends to aim for

55
Q

how can general knowledge go wrong

A

we can deliberate with the wrong end. if our starting point is wrong, our choices are wrong. therefore, our general knowledge of the good is faulty

56
Q

why is particular knowledge required in practical reasoning

A

the ability to perceive in the light of that general conception, what is required in order to achieve our ends in terms of feeling, choice and action in a particular situation

57
Q

how can particular knowledge go wrong

A

we can have the right end and perhaps even achieve it. however if we dont understand the right means to the end and it we achieve our end accidentally or due to luck- we lack knowledge of the particular circumstances

58
Q

how can the ability to reason/delibrate well towards a choice go wrong

A

if our reasoning is faulty, if we fail to deliberate when we should or if we take too long in our deliberation

59
Q

how can our ability to act on that deliberation go wrong

A

we may reason correctly towards the right choice but we may fail to act upon it.

60
Q

how does practical wisdom relate to virtue and what is the use of practical wisdom

A
  1. it helps us to identify how to achieve our virtuous ends
  2. It is required for an action to be fully virtuous (it is additional to just doing what a virtuous person would do, which could be done with no understanding at all and/or for the wrong reasons).
  3. It requires virtue, since it needs to have a morally good aim/end.
61
Q

it is what helps us to identify how to achieve our virtuous ends.

A

the virtues such as justice, courage, generosity set our ends. this is because we are virtuous and we aim at the good life and we have a reliable conception of what the is as it involves justice, courage and generosity.
however, this isn’t enough to live a good life as it doesn’t tell us what is good in this particular situation.
- due to this, we need practical wisdom to identify the constitutive means to our virtuous ends

62
Q

it is required for an action to be fully virtuous (it is additional to just doing what a virtuous person would do, which could be done with no understanding at all and/or for the wrong reasons).]

A
  • Aristotle draws a distinction between acting in accordance with a virtue and doing a fully virtuous action.
  • So acting virtuously requires practical wisdom. So Aristotle draws a distinction between ‘natural’ virtue and ‘full’ virtue.
  • allows that we can have good dispositions from birth: someone might be naturally kind. But this doesn’t amount to ‘full virtue’ as A naturally kind child doesn’t fully comprehend the nature of their action, and could easily be misled into being kind for the wrong reasons or at the wrong time
  • Without practical wisdom, we can’t have full virtue.
63
Q

what is doing a fully virtuous action

A

one in which the agents knows what they are doing and chooses the act for its own sake. both acting in accordance wit duty and doing a fully virtuous action depends on having practical wisdom.

64
Q

It requires virtue, since it needs to have a morally good aim/end.

A

pratical wisdom also depends on virtue.
it is possible to deliberate from the wrong ends
e.g. a bad man can be very clever in achieving what they want. But cleverness is not practical wisdom, because practical wisdom also involves having general knowledge about what is good.
- This depends upon being virtuous, because what appears good to someone depends on their character traits.
- we become both good and practically wise together.

65
Q

what are the 3 types of moral responsibility

A
  • voluntary action
  • involuntary action
  • non-voluntary action
66
Q

voluntary action

A

one where 2 conditions must be met:
1. the control condition
2. the epistemic condition

67
Q

what is the control condition

A

action is done intentionally by the agent and not compelled externally

68
Q

what is the epistemic condition

A

the agent must be aware of the non-moral facts about what it is she is doing

69
Q

involuntary action

A
  • an action that fails to meet the control condition as it is done involuntarily as it is done under compulsion
    OR
  • fails to meet the epistemic condition because it is the result of ignorance
  • is regretted
70
Q

non-voluntary action

A
  • an action that fails to meet the control condition as it is done involuntarily as it is done under compulsion
    OR
  • fails to meet the epistemic condition because it is the result of ignorance
  • not regretted
71
Q

how is an act compulsory

A

if it originates in an external cause and the agent contributes nothing to it,
some acts involves a mixture of voluntary and involuntary

72
Q

how is an act committed in ignorance

A
  • not considered to be voluntary, but a distinction must be drawn between an act done through ignorance which is subsequently regretted by the agent and such an act which is not regretted
    e.g. A drunken man may act ignorantly, but his ignorance is due to the alcohol he has consumed and not to his own lack of knowledge; in this sense his act may be non-voluntary.
73
Q

what is the relationship between eudaimonia and pleasure

A
  • pleasure is not the same as eudaimonia, but can still be part of a good life.
  • pleasures can be good or bad, depends on the activity that they are part of.
74
Q

the difference between eudaimonia and pleasure

A
  1. pleasure is a psychological state, whereas eudaimonia is not a state of mind but relates to an activity of living. a good life is one that realises the full potential that a human life has.
  2. eudaimonia is objective, to say someone is or was ‘eudaimon’ is to make an objective judgement about their life as a good human being. if someone says that they are happy or unhappy, it is difficult to correct them or know better. whereas, pleasure is saying something directly about their state of mind and is subjective.
  3. eudaimonia is not something easily changed, it does not cone and go as happens can. this is because eudaimonia is an evaluation of a life or a person as a whole.
  4. eudaimonia is the ultimate good whereas pleasure is a good but not the ultimate good. he claims this through an argument given by plato where if we imagine a life filled with pleasure and then mentally add wisdom to it, the result is made more desirable. however, eudaimonia cannot be improved or add more to it like happiness.
75
Q
A

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