Virtue Ethics

Revival of interest in Aristotle: key figures include Aristotle generally limited to Catholic studies due to influence of Aquinas from modern period until middle-to-late 20th century Revival of interest in Aristotle: key figures include Foot Anscombe Annas MacIntyre Cooper Miller Veatch

Philippa Foot Contemporary philosopher (1920-2010) Oxford trained but mostly taught in US Important figure in modern revival of Aristotle

Philippa Foot Critical of Kantian approach Morality does consist of hypothetical imperatives

Philippa Foot Critical of Kantian approach Morality does consist of hypothetical imperatives Kantian approach lacks motivation

Philippa Foot Critical of Kantian approach Morality does consist of hypothetical imperatives Kantian approach lacks motivation Everyone has reason to cultivate virtues, but having a reason is contingent on motivation

Philippa Foot What do we mean by “must do”? Physical or mental compulsion Penalties for noncompliance Unquestioned acceptance of some project Foot: None of these seem to apply to morality. We simply feel bound by morality.

Philippa Foot What do we mean by “must do”? Physical or mental compulsion Penalties for noncompliance Unquestioned acceptance of some project Foot: None of these seem to apply to morality. We simply feel bound by morality. So: one needs to want something in order to care about virtue Like what?

Philippa Foot What do we mean by “must do”? Physical or mental compulsion Penalties for noncompliance Unquestioned acceptance of some project Foot: None of these seem to apply to morality. We simply feel bound by morality. So: one needs to want something in order to care about virtue Like what? Flourishing – wanting a good life; a life that is good for the kind of life form we are

Elizabeth Anscombe Roughly contemporary with Foot (1919-2001) Also Oxford trained; mostly remained in UK Also a key figure in neo-Aristotelian theory

Elizabeth Anscombe Claims that the notion of moral obligation, along with the related notions of being “bound” or “required” to do something, only makes sense within the context of divine law. For those who no longer believe in divine law, the moral “ought” has become “a word containing no intelligible thought: a word retaining the suggestion of force, and apt to have a strong psychological effect, but which no longer signifies a real concept at all.”

Elizabeth Anscombe Reintroduces the Aristotelian alternative Aristotle did not have a notion of “moral obligation,” but built his ethical theory around the notion of virtues. A virtue is a character trait, a disposition to think, feel, and act in certain ways. Aristotle claimed that the flourishing of human beings consists in possessing and exercising the virtues.

Elizabeth Anscombe Also: opposes utilitarianism “Every one of the best known English academic moral philosophers [since Sidgwick] has put out a philosophy according to which, e.g., it is not possible to hold that it cannot be right to kill the innocent as a means to any end whatsoever and that someone who thinks otherwise is in error.” Anscombe: An acceptable ethical theory will rule out certain actions (e.g., killing innocents) absolutely, regardless of what the consequences of performing the action would be.

Elizabeth Anscombe “If someone really thinks, in advance, that it is open to question whether such an action as procuring the judicial execution of the innocent should be quite excluded from consideration—I do not want to argue with him; he shows a corrupt mind.” The good life requires cultivation of the virtues.