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7/31/2019 Virtue Ethics Power Point JM 09-02-09
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VIRTUE ETHICSVIRTUE ETHICSFrom Aristotle to the 21st century
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Why Should I Be Moral?Why Should I Be Moral?Because of My Character!Because of My Character!
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AretologyAretology
Arete - Excellence, Strength,Virtue
Aretaic Ethics - Strength-Centred
EthicsEmphasizes Virtues (Strengths)
and Vices (Weaknesses) of
CharacterNot What Should I Do? (both
Deontology and Teleology) but
What Kind of Person Should I
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Aristotles EthicsAristotles Ethics
384-322 B.C.The Nicomachean Ethics
Two Kinds of Persons
Continent:Do what is right, but not necessarily
because they want to
Temperate:Do what is right because they want to;
the more holistic person
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The Goal of HumanThe Goal of Human
ExistenceExistence
Eudaimonia
Flourishing, Happiness
A Lifelong Pursuit,
accomplished Rationally, through
theoretical wisdom andcontemplation
Functionally, throughpractical wisdom andpolitics
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The Goal of Human Existence &The Goal of Human Existence &
EudaimoniaEudaimoniaAimed at the perfecthappiness which is theperfect activity
An excellence in anyactivity in accordance withthe nature of that activity
Thus, Human happiness isthe activity of the soul inaccordance with perfectvirtue (excellence). (I.8;
Pojman, 394).
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The VirtuesThe Virtues
Intellectual Virtues Wisdom, Understanding, Prudence
Taught through instruction
Moral Virtues Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance
The result of habit
Not natural or inborn but acquired through
practice Habit or disposition of the soul (our
fundamental character) which involvesboth feeling and actionThose strengths of character that enable us to
flourish(Hinman)
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The VirtuesThe Virtues
Defined / understood in terms ofspheres of human experience
Fear of importantdamages
Courage
Bodily appetites andtheir pleasures
Moderation
Distribution of limitedresources Justice
Attitude to slightsand damages
Mildness ofTemper
Adapted from Martha C. Nussbaum, Non-Relative Virtues
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The Doctrine of the MeanThe Doctrine of the Mean
Proper position between two extremes Vice of excess
Vice of deficiency
Not an arithmetic median Relative to us and not the thing
Not the same for all of us, or
Any of us, at various occasions
In this way, then, every knowledgeable
person avoids excess and deficiency, butlooks for the mean and chooses it(II.6)
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The MeanThe Mean
Vice of Deficiency Virtue Vice of Excess
Cowardice Courage Foolhardiness
Stinginess Generosity Prodigality
Shamelessness Modesty Bashfulness
Maliciousness Righteous
Indignation
Enviousness
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Virtues and the MeanVirtues and the Mean
Defined through Reason Education, contemplation, reflection
Balanced with Other Virtues andapplied usingphronesis: To have any single strength of character in full
measure, a person must have the other onesas well.*Courage without good judgement is blindCourage without perseverance is short-livedCourage without a clear sense of your own abilities
is foolhardy
The virtuous person has practicalwisdom, the ability to know when andhow best to apply these various moral
perspectives. (*Hinman)
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Virtues and CommunityVirtues and Community
Virtues are defined and lived incommunitySharing a common identity and storyModelling the Virtues
Importance of Moral Exemplars (Saints andHeroes)
Practicing the Virtues Habit isCrucial!
In a word, then, like activities produce likedispositions. Hence we must give our activities acertain quality, because it is their characteristicsthat determine the resulting dispositions. So it is amatter of no little importance what sort of habitswe form from the earliest age it makes a vast
difference, or rather all the difference in the world.II.i. Po a 396
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Other Virtue EthicistsOther Virtue Ethicists
G.E.M. (Elizabeth)Anscombe
In 1958 she published an
articlecalled Modern Moral
Philosophyarguingthat we should return to
the virtues,as the idea of a law
without a lawgiverwas incoherent.
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Other Virtue EthicistsOther Virtue Ethicists
Alasdair MacIntyreAfter Virtue (1981)
Modern moral
philosophy is bankrupt;it must recover thetradition of virtue.
Importance of Narrative
as alive tradition youneed to know where
ethics has come from.
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Other Virtue EthicistsOther Virtue Ethicists
Philippa FootTries to modernise Aristotle.
Ethics should not be about drytheorising, but about making the
world a better place (she was one ofthe founders of Oxfam)
Virtue contributes to the good life.
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Other Virtue EthicistsOther Virtue Ethicists
Rosalind HursthouseA neo-Aristotelian Aristotle
was wrong on women and
slaves, and there is no needto be limited to his list ofvirtues.
We acquire virtuesindividually, and
so flourish, but we do so
together
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Other Virtue EthicistsOther Virtue Ethicists
Carol GilliganIn a Different Voice
(1982)
Developmental theorieshave been built onobservations andassumptions about menslives and thereby distort
views of female personality.The kinds of virtues onehonors depend on the powerbrokers of ones society.
The Ethics of Care
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Other Virtue EthicistsOther Virtue Ethicists
Michael SloteDevelops the feminist ethics of care,
and links it to a virtue ethics inspired
more by Hume and Hutchesons moral
sentimentalism than by Aristotle.
Slotes version of virtue ethics is agent-based(as opposed
to more Aristotelian forms which are said to beagent
focused) i.e. the moral rightness of acts isbased on the
virtuous motives or characters of the agent.The motives are all important.
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Other Virtue EthicistsOther Virtue Ethicists
Martha Nussbaum
She interprets Aristotles
views asabsolutes justice,
temperance,
generosity etc. are essentialto human flourishing
in all societies and in alltimes.
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Examples of Virtue EthicsExamples of Virtue Ethics
Bruderhof andAmishcommunities
Anti-worldly
Pacifist
Family Story
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What makes one group virtuousWhat makes one group virtuous
and not another?and not another?
Inner-CityGangs
Commonvalues
Models
Virtuousactions
Codes ofhonour
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Ku Klux Klan?
Focused Live tradition
Stories and
Models
Common
enemy
The family isthe strength ofour nation.
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The Christian Church?
The Taliban?
The Scouting Movement?
Your school?
Your friends?
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Are the virtues the same forAre the virtues the same for
everyone?everyone?
People are very different.But we face the same basic
problems and have the same
basic needs.Everyone needs courage as
danger can always arise.
Some people are less well off, sowe will need generosity.
Everyone needs friends so we
need loyalty.
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Strengths of Virtue EthicsStrengths of Virtue Ethics
Importance of the Person, Motive,Heart, Conscience
Connection to Community
Realization that morality is notdefined by moments but by along-term process
Allowance for gray areas, varyingcontexts, different levels of moralmaturity and life contexts
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Weaknesses of VirtueWeaknesses of Virtue
EthicsEthicsDependence on strong
communities
Not easily applied to ethical
issues or to give us practicalsolutions
Demands time
Can be turned into a really poorduty-based ethics
Might be taken as situational
ethics
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ConclusionsConclusions
Utilitarianism and Deontology arehelpful
They demand some kind of larger
criteria or grounding, a largerview
Virtue ethics seems to provide
this viewIt seems to reflect Christian
ethics best, and
It is not dependent on any