Virtue Ethics Flashcards
What is Virtue Ethics?
Character based
Virtue/aretaic ethics
What is a virtue?
- moral depends on us (courage) become part of character
- intellectual teaching (scientific knowledge/intuition)
What is a vice?
bad - established through habit
society - Uk discriminatory history
How is Aristotle different for his time?
No emphasis on God
What was Aristotle’s hierarchy?
Philosophers - Politicians - People
What is the golden mean?
Excess (foolhardiness) - Golden mean (courage) - Deficiency (cowardice)
Some relativism)
should lead life of habitual self control
What is a disadvantage of Aristotle?
VE can be seen as elitist - adult males governed and rest was women/slaves/labourers
(No reason can’t be applied to all)
Quote from Aristotle?
“Every art…and similarly every action as choice is held to aim at some good”
What are Superior and Subordinate aims?
superior - horse bridles - horsemanship - military -victory - allow flourish
What is Eudamonia?
‘human flourishing’
Slote - “promotes overall well-being, of the virtuous individual”
harmonious/virtuous society
Why is Eudamonia good for ethics?
human telos is eudamonia
flexibility
virtuous society all happiness
no “thou shalts”
What does Aristotle say there is a relationship between?
Goodness and function
humans have to perform their function
What is the hierarchy of souls Aristotle?
Hierarchy of souls
‘Soul’ is blueprint of body
sensitive (growth- animals) and rational (reason- humans)
What does Aristotle say about the 2
“…an activity of the soul in accord with virtue”
What is two types of soul?
Non rational - moral virtues
Rational soul - intellectual virtues/ practical
Aristotle telos is rational soul “activity of the soul in accord with virtue”
What is friendship? VE
Altruistic virtue - good of others an end in itself
“friendship holds cities together”
What are the three kinds of friendship?
- usefulness
- pleasure
- goodness - perfect type (excellence/virtue)
What does intention mean for Aristotle?
necessary
must involve deliberation/reason
What is practical wisdom?
Wisdom is made not born
wise teachers
Barry Shwartz - Janitor good character not in job description
society forgot to focus on character
What is the difference between Artistotle and Plato?
Aristotle - empiricist no emphasis on God
Plato - rationalist
Strengths of VE
- no fixed laws
- encourages virtue avoids rewards
- holistic (individuals as morally relevant)
- focus what makes life good not right/wrong
Weaknesses of VE
- no clear guidance
- secular
- unvirtuous motive? Slote - good motive
- Owen Flanagan - difficult find examples of virtuous people
