Virtue Ethics

Question 1

Who was the main advocate of virtue ethics originally?

Answer 1

Aristotle, pupil of Plato and philosopher

Question 2

What is the purpose of all human beings? What is this purpose called?

Answer 2

The telos of humans is to flourish emotionally and spiritually.

Question 3

How do you become a virtuous person?

Answer 3

Practicing virtues until it becomes a habit. You will act in a way which you see as the right way because you believe it rather than feeling that you ought to.

Question 4

Name a virtuous person

Answer 4

Mother Theresa

Bill Gates

Question 5

What are all humans aiming for in life ultimately?

Answer 5

Eudaimonia- quality of happiness p, being happy and living well. It has intrinsic value and is not a means to an end but an end in itself

Question 6

What is the role of the community?

Answer 6

People must be virtuous in the community and practice virtues with other people in order to be truly virtuous.

Question 7

What is the golden mean?

Answer 7

The balance between the excess of too much of a virtue and not having enough of the virtue
This is the best way to live in society, there must be a balance in the extremes
You need to apply PHRONESIS though- the golden mean is not the same for everyone and not the same in different situations. PHRONESIS is the use of practical wisdom to decide on the right course of action in each situation. We acquire PHRONESIS as we grow up and move away from rules and authority figures to a world of more autonomous thinking and virtue-centred morality.

Question 8

Give examples of virtues with excess and deficiency

Answer 8

Courage- foolhardiness, cowardice

Just resentment- callousness, spitefulness

Question 9

What kind of ethical theory is it?

Answer 9

Hybrid theory
Duty is deontological
Consequences is teleological

Question 10

Explain superior and subordinate aims

Answer 10

Superior aims are higher, more supreme, while subordinate aims are those which need to be fulfilled in order to fulfil the superior aim

Question 11

How many intellectual virtues are there? Give examples of each

Answer 11

9 overall
Five primary and four secondary
Primary- scientific knowledge, wisdom
Secondary- understanding, judgement

Question 12

Explain Aristotle’s theory of the soul

Answer 12

Two major parts- rational and irrational
Irrational- vegetative (basic survival) and desiderative (desire needing to be controlled)
Rational- scientific (knowledge of facts) and calculative (decision making)

Moral virtues and connected to the desiderative and irrational part while intellectual virtues are associated with the rational

Question 13

Explain Aristotle’s theory on friendship

Answer 13

‘Nobody would choose to live without friends even if he had all the other good things’
Moral virtues wouldn’t work without friendships and neither would proper justice
Utility friendship- at work, convenience
Pleasurable or erotic friendship- impermanent and based on sexual attraction
Perfect friendships- based on goodness alone and each friend cares more for the other than themselves
Friendships allow whole communities to reach the state of eudaimonia

Question 14

Aristotle’s three different types of people

Answer 14

Pleasure seekers- driven by basic desires
Seekers of honour- serve the community by problem solving
Philosophers- people who love contemplation

Question 15

Strengths of virtue theory- examples of medical research & development

Answer 15

Avoids a formula- focuses on the kind of person we ought to be. Animal experimentation.
Distinguishes between good people and legalists- embryo research and murder
Stresses the importance of motivating people to want to be good
Teaches us that we learn moral principles all the time
Integrates all parts of life- bigger picture-our emotions, friends, social responsibilities and ethical reflection. Looks at what makes life worthwhile rather than what is right or wrong in certain situations. More in tune to how people actually react to moral dilemmas. Life support systems.
Sees it as important to be biased towards family and friends, unlike Utilitarianism or Kant. Saviour siblings
Doesn’t pretend to be able to tell us what a good person would do in every possible situation but encourages us to be more like such a person so we will not need an ethical theory to make our decisions for us, stresses the importance of character. Different uses of therapeutic cloning, saviour siblings or eugenics and Hitler’s Aryan Race

Question 16

Weaknesses of virtue theory

Answer 16

Are virtues culturally relative?
Robert Louden says- how can you apply it to moral dilemmas, doesn’t give clear rules for actions so cannot help people in a crisis. Depends too much on the practical wisdom of the decision maker in the situation.
Louden also says- It is difficult to see who is virtuous as acts which appear virtuous on the outside may not necessarily have good motives and vice versa.
Some virtues are immoral e.g. courage
No view on what makes an act right or wrong, so there are no basic concepts like rights
Depends on a final end of which gives shape to our lives. If there is not one then being virtuous may not affect it in any way

Question 17

Alasdair MacIntyre’s theory- explain

Answer 17

Emphasises the importance of moral goods rather than obligations or moral agents
Argues that theories have resulted in emotivism
Morality should be seen in terms of human purpose
Community is essential
There is now a dislocated self
Three archetypal characters are;
Bureaucratic manager- profit is more important than principles
Rich Aesthete- dominant in celebrity culture
Therapist- deals with failed hopes and aspirations
Humans have different skills and talents, it is only when we cooperate with others that they have true value

Question 18

Quote from MacIntyre

Answer 18

‘Society depends for its very existence upon people who exhibit the virtues’

Question 19

Define a virtue

Answer 19

Habitually doing what is right, being good requires the practice of a certain kind of behaviour

Question 20

What did Aristotle write?

Answer 20

Nicomachean Ethics

Question 21

What are Aristotles’ two types of virtue?

Answer 21

Intellectual- developed by training and education

Moral- developed by habit in the rational part of the soul

Question 22

How many moral virtues are there? What are they?

Answer 22

12
Courage. Cowardice, rashness
Temperance. Insensibility, intemperance
Liberality. Illiberality, prodigality
Munificence. Pettiness, vulgarity
High mindedness. Humble mindedness, vaingloriousness
Right ambition. Want of ambition, over ambition
Good temper. Spiritlessness, irascibility
Friendliness/ civility. Surliness, obsequiousness
Sincerity. Sarcasm, boastfulness
Wittiness. Boorishness, buffoonery
Modesty. Shamelessness, bashfulness
Just resentment. Callousness, spitefulness

Question 23

Importance of and use of reason

Answer 23

Someone who reaches eudaimonia has used their reason
Reason is a supreme human virtue. There is an ability to think but also a use of moral reason- reason included putting into action what you used your reason to judge as good.
Reason is practical, involves understanding and responding

Question 24

Modern interpretations of Virtue Ethics

Answer 24

G.E.M Anscombe- advocates virtue ethics because you don’t need a god to flourish and reach eudaimonia. There needs a focus, too on the person committing the act rather than the act itself otherwise it wouldn’t be serving the community properly.
Philippa Foot- importance of reason, difference in a virtue when it used to do bad e.g. when someone needs daring to commit a murder, virtues are those which act against human tendency to do otherwise
Alastair MacIntyre- disagreed with emotivism in ethics and said there needed to be a focus on the telos or function of people. The idea of the community is important in his virtue ethics