Virtue Ethics

Question 0

Aristotle: metaphysics and biology

Answer 0

Essence-
all things possess fundamental feature which makes that object the sort of thing it is
Teloeology-
All things have characteristic end/purpose (telos) which explains why they’re constituted as they are

Question 1

What does it ask

Answer 1

What sort of person should I be?

Agent centred not act centred
Concerned with character not duty

Question 2

Aristotle: virtues

Answer 2

Traits best citizens display
To recognise virtue, one must already possess them to some degree
-no point studying until adulthood

Question 3

Aristotle: Eudaimonia

Answer 3

Human flourishing
Living way that is well favoured by God
Highest end

Question 4

Aristotle: moral education

Answer 4

Teaches us to act properly and seek Eudaimonia
How can you know if an act is good if you’re doing it instinctively?

We may be akratic-
Know right course of action but our character hasn’t fully been formed
-may go against reason as we lack strength of will

Question 5

Aristotle on akrasia

Answer 5

Akratic=lack strength of will so act against reason

But by resisting akrasia and acting against inclination we can train ourselves into having the right kind of character

Question 6

3 criteria to distinguish virtuous people from people who behave in right way by accident

Answer 6

1) virtuous know acting in right way
2) choose to behave in right way to be virtuous
3) behaviour manifests itself as part of fixed, virtuous disposition

Question 7

Golden mean

Answer 7

Virtues may vary person-person
To tell which traits=virtues:
Virtue is between deficiency and excess of trait

But doesn’t tell us which traits are virtuous

Question 8

Modern virtue theories: main problem for modern Aristotlians

Answer 8

No essences
No purposes
No single, determinate way to flourish

Question 9

Modern virtue theories: defend aristotles biology

Answer 9

General claims about purpose and function

Question 10

Modern virtue theories: non-biological basis for Eudaimonia

Answer 10

Conceptions of right and wrong rooted in free choices, not ways of life
-EXPRESSIVISM
Society and traditions give us narrative structure
But: narrative structure implies narrator
Diff traditions=diff virtues

Question 11

Problems for virtue theorists

Answer 11

No guide to action
No way of telling which traits are virtues
-which ways of life are eudaimon
Is it really about morality