virtue ethics Flashcards
arete
excellence/virtue
Phronesis
practical wisdom
This is developed over one’s life. Aristotle didn’t think that people should learn ethics until they were in their 30s.
Eudaimonia
human flourishing
this is essentially the good life- what makes a life go best
the function of humans is eudaimonia- living a good life
what is a virtue?
{Aristotle}
an excellence- a thing that makes ‘x’ good at its function.
virtues are character traits that will contribute to humans living a good life
ex: the function of a knife is to cut. so a virtuous knife is a sharp one
What is the Doctrine of the Mean?
identifies a character virtue as the middle ground between excess and deficiency.
ex: courage is right in the middle of cowardice and rashness, the middle ground.
end up with a high ‘context-sensitive’ notion- the courageous thing to do will vary from situation to situation
continent agent vs virtuous agent
a continent person can control his or her emotions to act in accordance with the virtuous thing to do. A continent agent can do the virtuous thing, but can never be fully virtuous.
A virtuous person is one whose feelings are in line
with the rational or virtuous thing to do
what is a normative ethical theory?
gives us clear instructions of what to do in a given situation and why
What is the Normativity Argument?
Premise 1: If virtue ethics is incapable of being action
guiding, then it cannot be considered to be an
independent normative ethical theory.
Premise 2: Virtue ethics is incapable of being action
guiding.
Conclusion: So virtue ethics cannot be considered to be
an independent normative ethical theory.
How is virtue ethics action-guiding?
1 An action is right iff it is what a virtuous agent would
characteristically do in the circumstances.
2 A virtue is a character trait that leads to eudaimonia
so, the right action is one that an agent who has character traits that would lead to eudaimonia would characteristically do.
What is the Hursthouse decision procedure?
1) ask a virtuous person
(When we want to do the kind thing or the
courageous thing, we go ask someone who is
kinder or more courageous than us)
2) follow the virtue rules
What is the conflict problem?
there are 2 or more competing virtues that are telling us to do different things
Ultimately the conflict problem comes down to a lack of phronesis – of practical wisdom.
What is the resolution to the conflict problem?
to say that there’s no conflict at all,
prima facie- it’s only an apparent conflict, not a genuine one
what are moral dilemmas?
situations where both options are very unattractive- but we have to pick one
Hurthouse’s solution: if this is a true dilemma, then either action is the morally correct one!
Swanton’s virtuous agents
Ideally virtuous agents – these are agents that are
perfectly virtuous in every aspect.
A virtuous enough agent – this is a threshold
notion. There will be a point (a threshold) at which
someone is virtuous enough.
Swanton’s view of virtue ethics
1 A virtue is a good quality or excellence of character. It is a disposition of acknowledging or responding to items in the field of a virtue in an excellent (or good enough) way.
2 An action from virtue is an action which displays, expresses, or exhibits all (or a sufficient number of) the excellences comprising virtue in sense (V1) to a sufficient degree.
3 Hitting the target of a virtue is a successful response to items in its field, which is appropriate to the aim of a given context.
4 An act is virtuous iff it hits the target of virtue.
ex: does this dress make me look fat? tell the truth.
