aristotles virtue ethics Flashcards
what does Aristotle think separates us from everything else on the planet?
- out rationality
what is our ultimate good?
- to exercise out rational capacities in the pursuit of eudaimonia
what is eudaimonia?
- ‘the highest good’
- happiness
- human flourishing
how do we achieve eudaimonia?
- develop a virtuous character
what do we need to do to work out what can be considered a virtue?
- find the mean between two vices
- avoiding an excess of a deficiency of any given virtue
what must individuals use to find a virtue?
- practical wisdom
what is the vice of excess for courage?
- bravado
what is the vice of deficiency of courage?
- cowardice
what does Aristotle say about the best life?
“the best life, both for individuals and states, is the life of virtue”
what type of theory is virtue ethics?
- agent centred where the subject makes the decisions
what is a virtue?
- a character trait which is to be valued
what is a vice?
- a characteristic which works against its opposing virtue in order to destroy moral principle
what is the basis of virtue ethics?
- suggests we shouldn’t follow guidelines
- should focus on becoming better people by developing virtues
what is a telos?
- a final end goal
what is ergon?
- the work or the accomplishment of something
what type of argument is Aristotle’s virtue ethics?
- teleological
how do we perform virtues well?
- the doctrine of the mean
what are strengths of virtue ethics?
- it values strength of moral character above following rules regardless
- allows for moral judgement
- equips people to deal with the worst situations
- follow the example of virtuous people
what are weaknesses of virtue ethics?
- it ignores cultural relativism, what’s virtuous in one century might be a comparative vice in another
- its anthropocentric (only focused on the good of humans)
- difficult to apply to moral dilemmas
- people need laws in order to know what they can or can’t do
