Virtue Ethics Flashcards
What does virtue ethics mean in terms of whether someone is ‘good’?
You are not referring to an action they have made, but to their disposition and qualities.
We should ____ how good we are by our actions. The goodness of the action comes from the ______ of the person who performs it. A good person will do ______ things.
- judge
- character
- good
What, according to Aristotle, is the greatest goal in life?
Eudaimonia
What are the three aims of eudaimonia?
- Happiness as a life of enjoyment.
- Happiness as a free member of society.
- Happiness as a philosopher.
What is the golden mean?
The perfect balance between the vice of excess and the vice of deficiency. E.g. courage - golden mean; cowardice = deficiency; rashness = excess.
Aristotle said there were how many moral virtues? Give examples of two.
12 moral virtues.
They include: courage, liberality, pride, friendliness, wittiness, justice, temperance, magnificence, good temper, truthfulness, shame and honour.
How do you develop intellectual virtues?
Training and education.
How do you develop moral virtues?
Habit.
What is phronesis?
Practical reason which we apply to situations in order to choose the right course. We acquire phronesis as we mature and become autonomous.
Who suggested that we do not need a God to have moral laws, it is all about eudaimonia, human flourishing and unity of a community?
G.E.M. Anscombe
What did Anscombe say about other ethical approaches?
They are based only on moral duty and moral acts, rather than the person.
Philippa Foot wanted to modernise Aristotle’s virtue ethics. What did she propose?
The importance of reasoning and how practicing virtues leads to flourishing.
Virtues are not virtues when used for bad.
Virtues help us to correct temptations and harmful passions.
Who said that human telos and virtue is all about community and how shared practices cultivate virtues.
Alisdair MacIntyre.
What does Rosalind Hursthouse say about virtue ethics in terms of explaining action?
It does not explain how a person would act, rather how they would think about a moral dilemma.
