Virtue Ethics

What is Virtue Ethics The important thing is to be a good person (as opposed to doing the right thing or achieving a good outcome) Interested in finding the characteristics that make someone a good person Used to be the standard ethical attitude in the ancient world

Functions What is it to be a good man? Same as to be a good knife, horse, lyre To perform the appropriate functions well Everything has an ergon “For just as the good – the doing well – of a flute-player, a sculptor or any practitioner of a skill, …, is thought to lie in its characteristic activity, so the same would seem to be true of a human being, if indeed he has a characteristic activity.” (1097b)

Functions Man’s characteristic activity is Reason Practical Reason It is unique to us We have other activities, but they’re not unique Practical Reason Use reason to find out how to gain our ends And act on it

Ends What are our ends? Every action has a goal “Every skill and every inquiry, and similarly every action and rational choice, is thought to aim at some good; and so the good has been aptly described as that at which everything aims.” (1094a)

Ends What are our ends? Every action has a goal A hierarchy exists Eg. Bridle-maker < bridles < horsemanship < war Most ends are instrumental Some (one) ends are final

Ends There is one goal for all actions “So if what is done has some end that we want for its own sake, and everything else we want is for the sake of this end; and if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else (because this would lead to an infinite progression, making our desire fruitless and vain), then clearly this will be the good, indeed the chief good.” (1094a)

Ends There is one goal for all actions Aristotle can’t prove this, but he believes it He has a candidate final end

Eudaimonia ‘Happiness’ is the one goal for all actions an overall-condition of a person’s life Not a mental state The end for which everything is pursued unconditionally complete self-sufficient

Eudaimonia The end of our characteristic activity A good man uses practical reason with great skill. The skilful use of practical reason is directed at getting happiness

Eudaimonia The end of our characteristic activity Aristotle’s happy life: For most people a normal prosperous life of good family, friends, comfort, … But really the best kind of life is the life of contemplation

Virtues What are the characteristics of the good man? What are the characteristics of the good knife, horse, lyre? The excellences that permit their function to be performed A good man has the characteristics that allow the excellent use of practical reason

Virtues Arete A happy life is a life lived virtuously ‘Excellence’ A tautology? Or is a rational life in itself a happy one?

A Virtue: Courage We all recognise and value courage, but there are problems Were the hijackers on 9/11 brave? Bill Maher [s]taying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.”

A Virtue: Courage We all recognise and value courage, but there are problems Is someone reckless of all danger courageous? No. It’s a fault of excess Cowardice A fault of deficiency Courage is in the middle This vice-virtue-vice pattern is typical

The Doctrine of the Mean We can experience fear, confidence, desire, anger, pity, and generally any kind of pleasure and pain either too much or too little, and in either case not properly. But to experience all this at the right time, towards the right objects, toward the right people, for the right reason, and in the right manner – that is the mean and the best course, the course that is the mark of virtue

The Doctrine of the Mean Deficiency Mean Excess Cowardice Courage Foolhardiness Miserliness Generosity Profligacy Insolence Respect Obsequiousness Callousness Care Pity

Becoming Virtuous You can train yourself to be virtuous Mentors Adopt the traits that are successful Adjust those that are not successful Mentors Parents Heroes People you admire

Problems Does self-help count as ethics? No idea how to resolve conflicts Doesn’t cover enough cases for a moral theory