Starter – Think Back Person A: Person B: Who is the more virtuous person? Why? What does that persons actions show? Person A: Who shares sweets because he has been told by society that this is the right thing to do, and because he happens to like the person he is sharing with. Person B: Who shares the sweets because he understands what it means to be fair and wants to aim for that, and because he has always been generous wherever possible.

Homework Recap Still need to see some answers on the blog from people, if it’s not done before Thursday you will be required to use your support session to complete it then.

Lesson Objective Outline and explain Aristotles “Doctrine of the Mean” and how we can use it to moderate our actions in any given context. Explain how the intellectual virtues (in particular practical wisdom) can be used to make the correct decisions when choosing how to act.

Think Back… What are some of the things we’ve identified as virtues? What are some of the things we’ve identified as vices? Is it possible that something that initially seems virtuous may actually be a vice? Why?

But how do we put this into practice? A while back we considered a flourishing plant. Think for a moment, what would happen if: We gave the plant too much water? We gave the plant too little water? We gave the plant just the right amount of water?

Applying it to life… Aristotle compares living well with other activities, such as eating well or physical training. In these cases the good nutritionist or good trainer needs to avoid prescribing too much food / exercise or too little. We achieve health and physical fitness by following an ‘intermediate’ course of action. An ‘objective’ intermediate (or ‘mean’) is a mathematical quantity, halfway between the two extremes, as 6 is halfway between 2 and 10. But in human activity, the intermediate (‘mean’) is relative to each individual. However, what this is differs from person to person. A professional sportsman needs more food and exercise than most people, someone who is not as bothered about their fitness might need less.

This is another key phrase you need to know. So back to virtues… Now, in the ‘art of living’, so to speak, something similar applies. We can feel our passions / desires either ‘too much’ or ‘too little’. Virtue involves being disposed to feeling in an ‘intermediate’ way, neither too much nor too little. To be virtuous is to: “Feel passions at the right times, with reference to the right objects, towards the right people, with the right motive and in the right way.” This is known as Aristotles ‘Doctrine of the mean’ – the ability to follow the virtuous intermediate / middle ground between the vice (opposite to virtue) of deficiency (too little) and the vice of excess (too much). This is another key phrase you need to know.

The Relative Golden Mean It is important to note that Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean does not claim that when we get angry for example, we should only ever be ‘moderately’ angry. We should be as angry as the situation demands, which can be very angry in some cases or only slightly irritated in others. The problem is if we either underdo it, or overdo it.

The Plant Example So just like the plant – we need to ensure we apply the right amount of virtues, at the right time, for the right reasons. Too much or too little and we’re no longer acting rationally. Our irrational passions are taking over.

Example: Courage

Truthful about oneself The Golden Mean Aristotle gives a number of examples of this ‘golden mean’, showing how we can easily fall into too much of a particular character trait (excess) or too little (deficiency) - I’ve filled the first one out for you, what might the rest be? Vice of Deficiency Virtue Vice of Excess Cowardly Courage Rash Modest Ambitious Good tempered Witty Truthful about oneself Friendly Liberal (money wise)

The Golden Mean

Important To Remember Aristotle’s concept of eudaimonia is different from acting ‘morally’ as we would understand the term in the modern context. And so the virtues he thinks are necessary for a good life don’t match, and sometimes even conflict, with the moral virtues that we might accept nowadays. For example, he thinks we should have ‘proper pride’ (contrast the Christian idea of humility) and that we should aim to do public works of magnificence and expense. Aristotle has a sense of the best life involving ‘cutting a figure’ in society, achieving a certain recognition and ‘honour’. Morality has since become more closely associated with self-sacrifice, and the traits we recognise as virtues more focused on securing welfare for others than recognition for ourselves. Whether this is a good or bad development in the history of ethics can be debated.

Recap Questions What is the Aristotle’s term for: The middle ground Too much of a virtue Too little Can you give an example showing how to apply a virtue correctly?

Important Points To Remember: ‘Mean’ here refers to ‘middle’, but Aristotle is not saying that we should take the ‘middle way’ in every situation, or act moderately in every situation. Clearly there are some situations where a more (or less) emotional response is required, for example when protesting against extreme injustices a high level of anger is appropriate, whereas if someone cuts you up whilst driving it may be appropriate to get only slightly irritated.

Important Points to Remember As we said before, virtues are also relative to particular people, a fireman running into a burning building would be expected to show a higher level of courage as his mean in this situation than you or I would.

Lesson Objective Outline and explain Aristotles “Doctrine of the Mean” and how we can use it to moderate our actions in any given context. Explain how the intellectual virtues (in particular practical wisdom) can be used to make the correct decisions when choosing how to act.

Practical Wisdom How do we work out what the correct mean / correct way to act is? For Aristotle the answer is practical wisdom. Practical wisdom is an intellectual virtue of reason. Our passions and desires, we’ve said before, are susceptible to reason. There can be right and wrong ways to feel passions, and the right way to feel passions is determined by reason. If we feel our passions ‘irrationally’ – at the wrong times, towards the wrong objects, etc. – then we don’t live well. Practical wisdom is what allows us to work out what the correct amount of any given virtue is at any given time.

Practical Reason According to Aristotle the soul is divided into two parts: the rational and the non-rational. In order to flourish we must excel in both parts of the soul. We have already looked at the most significant part of the non-rational part of the soul, our character, and how we can develop excellence of character through developing good habits and moral virtues. But what about the rational part?

Theoretical reason which is about abstract contemplation of the world. The Rational Soul Well this in turn is divided into two types of reasoning: Theoretical reason which is about abstract contemplation of the world. Practical reason which is about our lives, our goals and how we can achieve them. Whilst theoretical reasoning is important, it doesn’t really play a part in developing ones character (and thus developing ethically) so we can ignore it for this topic. Practical reasoning however, is important.

Practical Reason It is practical reason that lies behind making correct choices, so it involves deliberation and the skills of decision making. But the right choice is not just about working out what to do, it also means having the right desires / feelings (i.e. goals or aims) and those (as we said last lesson) are very much part of our character or dispositions – the non-rational part of the soul. This ultimately means if we want to make the right choice, then we need to excel both in practical reasoning (which Aristotle sometimes calls practical wisdom) and in our character (ethica arête).

Summary

Practical Reason Aristotle outlines a few different intellectual traits through which practical wisdom can manifest itself. We require all four to be truly considered “wise”: A general conception of what is good or bad, related to the conditions for human flourishing (i.e. we can see what we need for eudaimonia). The ability to perceive what is required to achieve this in any specific situation. The ability to deliberate and decide how best to apply ourselves to a situation. The ability to act on that deliberation.

Practical Reason Aristotle outlines a few different intellectual traits through which practical wisdom can manifest itself. We require all four to be truly considered “wise”. Read through the traits on page 331 (add them to your notes if you wish – they’re the same as the previous ones written slightly differently) and then have a go at the “Experimenting with ideas” section at the bottom. Once completed read through the first paragraph on 332.

The Link Between Practical Wisdom, Virtue and Action Practical wisdom and moral virtues (ethica arête) are bound up with one another: The moral virtues set out our ends. Because we are virtuous we aim at the good life, and have a reasonable conception of what this is (a life of courage, generosity, justice etc.) But that isn’t enough on it’s own, it doesn’t tell us what we should do in this situation to bring that about. That’s where practical wisdom comes in, it is the ability to identify the means we need to follow / carry out to achieve our ends.

The Link Between Practical Wisdom, Virtue and Action

The Link Between Practical Wisdom, Virtue and Action To illustrate this Aristotle draws a distinction between ‘natural’ virtue and ‘full’ virtue: A young child may be ‘naturally kind’ but doesn’t fully understand their actions. Therefore they could easily be misled into being kind for the wrong reasons or at the wrong time. A ‘fully virtuous’ person, someone who is equipped with practical wisdom, will never have this problem. Not only do their have the disposition to be kind, they have the ability work out when and how much kindness is appropriate in any situation.

Summary We cannot develop the right dispositions/virtues if we do not have the practical wisdom that tells us how it is appropriate to act in different circumstances. In other words, the desire to be excellent is useless without the ability to choose the correct way to achieve it. But by the same token having the ability to reason and determine lines of action without being disposed towards particular goals or aims is equally useless. According to Aristotle the two excellences (of character and practical reasoning) are therefore inseparable.

Summary Task… What is practical reasoning? Why are practical reasoning and moral virtue equally important according to Aristotle?

Summary… Two types of virtue help us live well: Intellectual and moral. Intellectual – Rationality, Moral – Character. We need to use our intellectual virtues (practical wisdom) to control our desires and work out how to apply moral virtues correctly. This ultimately means following the ‘doctrine of the mean’ – the middle way between vices of deficiency and excess. If we do this we will be acting in a rational way > following our ergon > ultimately achieving Eudaimonia.

Lesson Objective Outline and explain Aristotles “Doctrine of the Mean” and how we can use it to moderate our actions in any given context. Explain how the intellectual virtues (in particular practical wisdom) can be used to make the correct decisions when choosing how to act.

On whiteboards: Write a paragraph to summarise Virtue Ethics using as many as possible of the words below… Good life Final end Practical Wisdom Function Flourishing Eudaimonia Virtues Doctrine of the mean Vices